Chuck vs the Les Paul
by Extreme Stratusfaction
Summary: Set after Chuck vs. The Ring. Story revolving around the mysterious background prop that is Chuck's guitar. What's the real deal behind it? Read to find out. Includes 5 great songs, but they are *not* songfics. Fluff with depth. Chuck/Sarah.
1. Constant Knot

_I've always been infatuated with Chuck's guitar. I guess that's just me being a music nerd._

_For the sake of the story let's just suspend our disbelief that they would not have a briefing immediately following Chuck getting Intersect 2.0 in his brain. And also let's pretend Chuck's Les Paul is acoustic. I know. It's not. But this is fiction, right? The song is "Constant Knot" by City and Colour, but - once again - let's pretend that it's an original. _

_If you review, I'd describe you in the only way Devon Woodcomb knows how… outstanding ;o)_

_--_

Today marked the first day Sarah Walker had ever seen Chuck Bartowski pick up the guitar in his room. It had been there since she'd known him and not once had she even noticed him give it a second glance. It did on several occasions tug at her brain wondering just how skilled he was with the instrument. She knew firsthand how nimble his fingers could be, and while she preferred they moved across her body, she could imagine them strumming against strings just as competently. Nothing had ever become of her own curiosity, though. Sarah eventually played it off that he probably just got a discount from the Buy More and figured what the hell. She knew the store carried those classic Les Pauls. It did seem a bit odd for someone who loved music so much to neglect practicing the art form, but who was she to judge anyone on the ways they express themselves? God knows she sucked just as much as anyone else. Probably more, even, much to the dismay of the guitar's curly-headed owner.

Today was also the day after Chuck and his father unwittingly endangered Ellie's life at her own wedding. Like a cockroach, Ted Roark somehow survived that vicious air strike at the drive-in theater aka Fulcrum's operation base for the new Intersect. Needless to say, he was feeling vengeful when he made his return at the wedding.

Sarah's eyes turned red at the memory of walking into Chuck's bedroom after the cancellation and seeing the despair in his own chocolate colored eyes. Chuck did not deserve what had happened and no way in hell did Ellie deserve her wedding ending in such a destructive manner. But in the end, Chuck came through once again and used his "superpowers" to save the day for everyone.

Everyone except Bryce, who didn't live to see this day. Everyone except Casey, who lost his team that day, not to mention some of his best friends. Everyone except himself, Chuck, who had given up his finally-once-again normal life. Chuck, who had lost his friend and protector, Bryce Larkin. Chuck, who had downloaded the new Intersect in hope of living up to that hero persona others seem to think he was made for, neglecting the fact he himself would suffer for that decision. Hitting closest to home, Chuck had saved the day for everyone except her. Despite the fact Chuck protected both her and Casey's lives from The Ring, Sarah could not get past that in such a short time, everything her and Chuck had overcome to finally be together was washed away like footprints in the sand. No more early mornings spent exploring each other's bodies. No more wishing -- and believing -- someday it would be her and Chuck standing where Ellie and Devon had stood on the beach saying their vows. No more almost telling Chuck she in fact did not want to save the world, and that all she wanted from life was to stay with him.

Sarah caught herself before she released a tear from her watery cobalt eyes. Chuck had once referred to them as her very own permanent mood rings. He told her he could know everything there was to know about her mood just by looking into them. While this is extremely vulnerable for an agent such as herself, Sarah knew Chuck was the only one close enough to her that could read her like that. Not even her father could see her true emotions through her eyes. He used a different strategy to read people that was a dash more ignorant. Sarah remembered taking Chuck out to dinner to meet him. Her father couldn't see the pain brought on by the reminder of her past and yet Chuck had the frame of mind to change the subject for her.

Sarah snapped out of her reverie when she saw through the monitors in Castle that Chuck was writing something down on a piece of paper and holding it up to the camera.

'GOING TO PARK. WEARING MY WATCH.'

Sarah squinted her eyes and tilted her head to the side in both confusion and curiosity. Chuck never went to the park. Chuck never touched his guitar. Chuck never left a "BBL" note. That was a lot of "never"s for five minutes. She continued watching as she saw Chuck pack the guitar into a case and climb through the window deemed the "Morgan Door."

Sarah battled in her mind about whether or not to follow him. She can't say she's too surprised. After such a life-altering occurrence it's understandable for him to want to get away and clear his head. She wouldn't mind doing the same. She figured that after sacrificing so much for the greater good, Chuck deserved to be able to have some alone time.

--

The next day Sarah was in her hotel room working out the punching bag that conveniently hung there. Sarah hadn't really had any sort of release since the "incident" which she now referred to it as. She still hadn't talked to Chuck, figuring he needed some space and she had no idea what she could possibly say to him. 'Hey, Chuck, sorry about that whole turning yourself into a super agent controlled by a computer stuck in your brain thing. Hope everything works out for the best.' Somehow she didn't see that as being very helpful. Right after she unleashed a kick that was sure to have knocked off her target's head if ever applied to them, Sarah's phone started ringing. Taking off her gloves, Sarah blew her bangs out of her face and picked it up, only to see the object of her affection's older sister smiling up at her.

"Hi, Ellie," Sarah said in as innocent as voice as she could. It was hard remembering that in Ellie's eyes, Sarah was simply her little brother's sweet, frozen yogurt-serving girlfriend.

"_Sarah! I'm so glad I caught you. You wouldn't happen to be with Chuck at the moment, would you?"_

"Um… no. Why, did he say that he was with me?" Sarah silently cursed herself for possibly blowing Chuck's cover story.

"_Oh no, nothing like that. I was just wondering where he was. His shift ended about an hour and a half ago and Morgan came by looking for him."_

"Morgan isn't with him?" Sarah suddenly got a sinking feeling in her gut. This had never happened before.

"_No, so I was just a little worried and thought you might know where he is…?"_

"I've got a place in mind. I'll call you… _when_ I find him," Sarah said, not wanting to acknowledge that the first thing in her mind was "if."

Saying goodbye, she grabbed her keys and left the hotel. Sarah didn't pay attention to anyone she passed as she moved towards her beloved Porsche and turned on the engine. Gunning it out of the lot, she headed straight for the park.

Jogging from place to place searching for her asset, Sarah finally spotted Chuck from across the track leaning against a tree. The cold breeze, which had significantly picked up caused loose leaves to fall all around him as he played his guitar. Sarah sighed of relief and decided to walk over to him, not wanting to startle him by coming out of nowhere. As she got closer she heard the distinct sound of fingers strumming strings. She rubbed her arms to warm them from the breeze and walked up to him. He still hadn't looked up at her.

"Hey there, stranger," she said, breaking him from his playing. He looked up and smiled at her. Not the bright smile she had come to dream about at night, but one that seemed to be tinged with sadness.

"Hey." It wasn't exactly the greeting she was hoping for, but she'd take whatever she could get. The thought crossed her mind that he must be thinking the same old surveillance deal. He goes somewhere and the CIA tracks him down.

"Ellie called me." She saw the slightest hint of surprise in his features and knew she had assumed correctly. "She and Morgan were worried about you."

Chuck looked straight through her and said, "You sure it isn't just some government power play. You can run but you can't hide? That kind of thing?"

Sarah smiled at him and sat down next to where he was sitting. She fought about what she should say, opening and closing her mouth on several tries to say something useful. "You know, Chuck… Just because you know kung fu doesn't mean people stop caring about you." Chuck laughed at her attempt at humor and nodded at her logic. "And I hope just because you know kung fu you won't stop caring, either."

"I know," he said softly. Sarah eyed the guitar he had just placed on the ground.

"You never told me you could play." Chuck looked up at her for the first time before looking back down at the guitar.

"I guess I just assumed it was in my file." Lighting up his attitude he said, "I mean if Casey knows about the birthmark on my ass I figured my guitar playing would be common knowledge."

Sarah smiled brightly, her eyes filled with amusement. "You have a birthmark on your ass?" Chuck nodded embarrassingly. "And how does Casey know about this?"

"Looks like Agent Walker stopped reading at 'brown curly hair, brown eyes, and 6'2,'" he teased. "He said it was in my file and then went on for about fifteen minutes trying out various quips. It was great fun at my expense."

"Huh," Sarah said now having some kind of idea what goes on when she's not there. "I'm sorry I missed that."

Chuck's attention went back on the guitar. "Anyways, I've been doing it since high school. I guess my enthusiasm died for playing once I found out I was going to be the government's guinea pig."

"I was wondering why I hadn't seen you play before," she admitted.

"I usually only go back to it when I need to get out my thoughts somehow. I think the new Intersect takes up too much space in my head. It's getting cluttered up there." Sarah laughed and leaned into his shoulder, lightly nudging him to the side.

Before Sarah could delve further into what exactly he needed to get out, a few frat boys ran by the track and whistled at her. A nonplussed Sarah suddenly lost her friendly demeanor.

"You can't blame them," Chuck said. "You're practically baiting the entire world right now by wearing what you're wearing."

Sarah looked down and finally realized why she was so cold. _'Fucking A,'_ she thought as she now saw that in her haste to make sure he was okay, she had completely neglected changing out of her workout clothes. A sports bra and rolled up short shorts certainly did not protect her from the wind. Or the attention gained by the fellow pigs in this area. She now also knew why Chuck had refused to look at her. He was trying to be respectful of the fact that her boobs were practically screaming to the world that she was, in fact, cold.

Chuck was wearing a dark green thin v-neck sweater with only an undershirt underneath but that didn't stop him from taking off the sweater and offering it to Sarah. She looked at him incredulously and the corners of her mouth slowly rose up to form a grateful smile. Slipping easily into the oversized sweater she relished in the fact that she was now surrounded by his smell, warmth and… arms?

"Come on," Chuck said, wrapping his arms around her and hoisting her up to her feet. "It's cold and Ellie's probably going to kill me. Let's get out of here before a frat boy loses his two front teeth." Chuck kneeled down to pack the guitar into the case before lifting the strap over his head to rest diagonally across his chest. Sarah couldn't help but notice it highlighted his toned pecs. He put his arm around her shoulder and rubbed her upper arm as they walked over to her car. Once under the hood of her sports car, Sarah sent a quick text to Ellie saying she had found Chuck and he was fine.

During the ride back Sarah never once realized he swayed her away from continuing their conversation.

--

Once again, the next day found Sarah in Castle.

"What's up with your boyfriend?" Casey asked gruffly.

"Excuse me?"

Casey looked up from cleaning his gun. "Moron hasn't left his room all day. I think I even heard him talking to himself." He then went right back to cleaning his gun and Sarah heard him mumble, "About time the idiot went nuts."

Sarah walked over and switched on the camera to Chuck's room. Casey was right. Chuck was just sitting on his bed propped up against the headboard. He had a pen in his hand, and a notebook on his lap. His lips were moving and so she turned on the audio. There was no doubt he was saying something and would only write down something every few minutes.

Sarah turned off the feed and walked up the stairs. "Keep the surveillance off, Casey. I don't need a snide remark, I just need you to do it. It's for the benefit of the mental health of the asset. You have a problem with that you take it up with the General." Sarah got it all out before he could say anything and left with no room for interpretation. The only thing Sarah got in reply was a grunt. She didn't know what number it was and frankly didn't care.

This time she was the one climbing through the Morgan Door as she entered his room. Sure enough Chuck was still sitting there, cap in his mouth and his hand scribbling in the notebook.

Sarah knocked on the window even though she was already in there. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Hmm?" Chuck said, throwing down the notebook and placing the cap back on the pen.

Sarah walked over and crawled onto the bed. She sat cross-legged diagonally across from him at the far end of the bed. "What's with the notebook?"

"What—oh uh, just, you know… doodling," he said nonchalantly as he put the book into a drawer next to the bed. "So uh… what brings you here?"

Sarah was skeptical that he had been "just doodling" and it hurt that he was so blatantly keeping something from her. Not wanting to force him into anything, though, she took the bait. "I wanted to see if you were ready to talk. You know, about the whole… Intersect thing. If you're not… If you don't want to…" This time Sarah was the bumbling idiot of the two. She felt like they were making Valentine's Day plans all over again.

"No," Chuck said hastily. "Um, what… where do you want to start off?"

Sarah didn't like the low level of intimacy in her seating arrangement, so to make things more comfortable she again crawled up next to him. She propped her head up on her arm and placed the other hand onto his surprisingly hard abs, lazily dragging her fingertips back and forth creating wrinkles in his thin t-shirt. Chuck couldn't deny that just that action alone felt amazing. He also couldn't deny being reminded of their night in the motel by the position they were in. '_One mission at a time_,' he thought.

"How are you feeling?" Sarah's voice had become somewhat raspy at the close contact.

'_It's not what a normal guy would do.' _Her voice was similar as to when she had told him that. Told him that, after he chose to give up his only reward for two years of hell to fix the mistake of the same force screwing him over in the first place.

"I'm fine. It's fine. Everything... I'm fine," Chuck stammered unconvincingly. Sarah gave him a knowing, but understanding, look. He sighed dejectedly and admitted what they both already knew. "I'm sorry. I'm just not…"

Sarah lifted her fingers to his lips and shushed him. "You don't have anything to explain to me, Chuck." She had moved her hand back to his stomach and Chuck covered hers with his. "You know something? You are by far the strongest man I know. Being thrown into a world so different from what you're used to."

"Even stronger than Casey?"

Sarah smiled her smile that was reserved for only him. She hoped Casey had listened to her and not turned the surveillance on. "Definitely stronger than Casey. Think about it. You got thrown into Casey's world and you've accomplished more things than most agents can dream of. Casey's now in your world, too. He's not doing so great, is he? You don't complain about your situation. Have you ever talked to Casey once without him complaining?" Chuck grinned and shook his head. "So if you aren't ready to talk about yet another major setback, then I'm not about to force you to."

"Thank you," Chuck whispered as he stroked his thumb over her knuckles.

Sarah removed her hand from his and motioned towards the window. "So, do you want me to leave, or…?"

Chuck placed his hand onto the groove between her hip and her ribcage. Looking solidly into her questioning eyes he said, "I want you to stay." Sarah's face softened and she saw something flash in his eyes. Uncapping the pen and opening the drawer, Chuck pulled out the notebook and flipped to his previous page. Writing something down, he paused for a second to think, and then picked up writing. After about four lines and thirty seconds, Chuck closed it and placed it back into the drawer.

"Doodling?" Sarah asked him.

"Doodling," he confirmed, smiling up at her knowing neither of them believed it.

"So," she dragged out, "do I get to see any of these 'doodles'?"

Chuck turned onto his side to face her and got a serious look in his eyes. Leaning in closer and closer, Sarah's breathing started getting heavier and her heart beating faster. She closed her eyes and as she could feel his warm breath on her lips, he smiled smugly and whispered, "Don't push your luck, Walker." Sarah's eyes shot open and then narrowed.

"I'm sorry, Chuck, did you forget just _who_ it is you're talking to?" Chuck gulped hard and blinked. Quicker than a hiccup Sarah was straddling Chuck and had his hands clenched down above his head. She leaned down and her silky blonde hair caressed his face. "Remember who you're dealing with, buster." Leaning in to whisper in his ear, she continued, "Your life depends on it."

Sarah then switched from pinning his wrists down with both of her hands to only using one. The other was used to slowly open the mischievous drawer. Chuck saw this and his eyes became increasingly bigger. She grabbed the book and Chuck became very serious. "Sarah. Please." The tone in his voice caused her to pause and look at him, losing her playful demeanor. "Please," he whispered again. She undid her previous actions and rested her forehead heavily on his.

"Just…" She sighed. "Just promise me it's not another rogue mission."

"It's not another rogue mission," he replied.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Sarah nodded against his head and then positioned herself so she was lying atop him, arms wrapped around his neck and her head adjacent to his. Chuck rubbed her lower back with his thumb, causing her shirt to ride up, exposing a sliver of skin.

"I'm so sorry, Chuck," she whispered. She was sorry he had to give up so much of his life because people just seemed to keep hurting him. Chuck just held her, enjoying the feeling of being comforted. He thought maybe he wasn't the only one in need.

"Hey, as long as you're here, I know I'll be okay," he calmly said, moving a hand to stroke the back of her head.

"I'm never leaving you."

The words were so faint he had to replay them in his mind to make sure he heard correctly. Feeling his heart get lighter, he now knew he was ready.

"Okay," he said, sitting up. Sarah lifted her head to look at him. "You want to know what I've been doing the past few days?" Sarah nodded and he swung his and her legs over the edge of the bed. Standing up, he picked her up with him and then turned to place her down on the bed. It wasn't often she experienced his strength but when she did it always took her a few seconds to regain her composure. He walked over to the guitar sitting on the chair and picked it up. He then sat on the edge of the bed and took a long breath. Leaning over to grab the notebook, he placed it next to him and flipped to the page he was using. Sarah looked down to see what looked like a poem.

'_Lyrics,_' she thought, wondering how stupid she really was. He looked to be skimming it before he turned his attention to his fingers. Almost effortlessly he started to play. It was a little over twenty seconds before she heard his voice. She had no idea he could sing like that.

"How much would you bet  
That if I tried hard enough  
I would spontaneously combust"

'_Well that would explain the releasing his thoughts bit," _she thought to herself. Chuck didn't look at her and simply kept going.

"I wish I could disappear  
And run away from all of my fears  
I think I'm coming undone"

Sarah thought she could actually hear her heart breaking at the last line. He sung it so softly that she almost didn't register it but she now understood. Chuck was trying to be the superhero for her and Ellie and everyone in his life. Only now did she see what it had done to him.

"So stay the night  
I promise that I won't bite  
'Cause without you there  
I don't think I can close my eyes"

Now she knew why he was ready. She told him she's never leaving and all he needed was for her to stay. He still hadn't looked at her once yet. Sarah didn't know if that was due to nerves or vulnerability. Sitting up, she tucked her knees underneath her and continued to watch him intently.

"How do I end up this way  
A constant knot in my gut  
Tied with uncertainty and with love"

She could've sworn Chuck's voice cracked. At the last word Sarah crawled over on her knees and wrapped her arms around his chest from behind, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

"A classic case I suppose  
A haunted man who can't outrun his ghosts  
They're in my skin and my bones"

The Intersect. It seemed like he was destined to become the Intersect starting all the way back at his father. And sure enough, right when he gets close to being done he gets sucked back in just as quickly.

"So stay the night  
I promise that I won't bite  
'Cause without you there  
I don't think I can close my eyes"

And just like that it was over. His fingers left the strings and he sat contemplating what he had just done. He put the guitar on the floor, resting it against the bed.

"Chuck…" Sarah whispered, not having anything to follow his name with. His head was hanging exposing his neck, which she finally gave in to kissing. At the contact Chuck turned around and rested his hands on her hips. They looked longingly into each other's eyes as the gap between their lips closed at an agonizingly slow pace. Moving her hair back behind her ear, Chuck stole a glance at her awaiting pink lips before focusing back on her. He eventually closed his eyes and Sarah got rid of the distance. Chuck instinctively wrapped his arms around her petite figure and leaned her backwards onto the mattress as Sarah held her death grip on his shirt, all the while exploring the other one's mouth with their own. She was content with one hand with a fistful of fabric and the other with a fistful of hair. Chuck moved his hands back to her waistline, the only parts venturing under her shirt his thumbs and index fingers. Sarah's right leg coiled around his left one as she released the hold on his shirt in order to have both hands gripping at the back of his neck. Feeling her leg around his, Chuck's hand moved to run along the length of her thigh. Their tongues were in a battle where there was no loser. Sarah could feel herself getting dizzy from the sweetness and passion behind his kisses. Pulling their lips away from each other, he ventured down to her neck, causing her breath to hitch. Just as Chuck's hand became more adventurous under her shirt, a knock at the door startled them both. Sarah's flushed face turned to see Ellie open the door a crack.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" She said, holding her hands out in surrender. "I didn't mean to interrupt I was just coming in to see if you were staying for dinner, Sarah. I saw your car outside so I figured you were here." As she said this, Chuck rolled himself off of the panting blonde onto the sheets next to her, all the while his face twisted in embarrassment and anger towards the interrupted moment. Sarah looked over at Chuck and then back at Ellie.

"Yeah, Ellie, I think I'll stay." Ellie smiled and Sarah turned and looked into Chuck's brown eyes as she said, "I was actually planning on staying the night." Chuck's grin grew wide and Ellie could tell her presence was not needed, so without a word she left the room, shutting the door behind her. Chuck sighed at the fact that they were finally alone again and looked back at Sarah who seemed to have a predatory look in her eyes.

"Now, Mr. Bartowski," Sarah said seductively as she moved to straddle his waist for the second time that day, but certainly not the last, "time to see that birthmark."

--

_BBL = Be Back Later (for the abbreviationally challenged. I don't discriminate.)_

_Original lyric was "lust" but I changed it to "love" simply because I'm a sucker for Charah love._

_Review please! I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it._


	2. Sarah's Song

_I've decided to add on another chapter after so many requests. I can't say it'll be a full-length story but as long as you guys keep reading and reviewing, I'll do my best to keep writing. The song is called "Meghan's Song" by Matthew Perryman Jones – uh… I mean it's called "Sarah's Song" by Chuck Bartowski ;o) There's a live acoustic performance of it on YouTube you can listen to. I actually got the idea from the story Matt tells at the beginning of the video. One verse is kind of religious so I watered it down._

_---_

Over the weeks that followed, Chuck and Sarah become increasingly closer. If Casey thought he was Team Chuck's little fat kid before, now he wasn't even in the game. Once they would complete a mission, the three would go to the debriefing and then Chuck and Sarah would leave together. She had convinced Casey, after much circular logic, that he didn't have to turn on the surveillance when she was in Chuck's apartment. Casey knew the real reason she wanted the surveillance off, but she was one hell of a debater. By the time she had left Castle after talking to him, Casey wasn't even sure what they had agreed on and was still trying to make sense of it all.

Chuck became much more open with Sarah about his music. They often found themselves sitting together on his bed while Chuck softly played his guitar. Sometimes Sarah would fall asleep on his shoulder, prompting Chuck to turn his attention from playing to cuddling up with her until she reopened her eyes. She didn't know it but he could tell whenever she woke up. Her eyes wouldn't open but her whole body would go from relaxed to tense in a split second. She wasn't used to waking up in someone's arms, so right when he felt her, he would quickly but calmly say, "Shh, sweetie, it's okay. It's just me, Chuck." She would then look up into his eyes and tentatively smile until he leaned down and kissed her, calming all of her nerves.

After falling asleep to Chuck's guitar playing so many times, Sarah began to realize she needed it in order to fall asleep. This painful realization came to her in the middle of the night while she tossed and turned in her hotel room for the third night in a row. She contemplated sneaking into his room, but she hadn't told Casey to turn off the cameras or bugs and she was not in the mood to deal with him. She sighed loudly as she stared up at the plain white ceiling above her head. Letting go of any dignity she had left, she grabbed her cell phone. Before she could call, she got distracted and went to her pictures. She lay there for over ten minutes scrolling through the pictures she had of him, some candid, some taken by Ellie of the two of them, and a few that were both. Her favorite was just that. The picture was of them lying on the couch, her leaning back into him from between his legs as they watched a movie with their hands playing with each other. Sarah had her head against his chest, and Chuck had his hand rested between her pelvic and hipbone, and hers was on top. When Sarah had turned on her phone later, she had found that Ellie had changed her background picture to it. Sarah kept it for a whole month. Reaching the end of the photo album, Sarah went back to the main screen and pressed "call" when she got to Chuck. Nervously waiting as it rang, she thought maybe Chuck would just ignore it. It was late and he probably just wanted to sleep, not come take care of her. Who was she kidding, of course he would come over, he's Chuck. Chuck would walk over burning coals and shards of glass just to bring her an orange Tic Tac.

After the fourth ring, Chuck finally answered with a sound that definitely did not belong to any language on Earth.

"Hey, baby," she said as sweetly as she could.

"Sarah? What's going on, are you okay?" Ever since Chuck had accepted his new abilities brought on by the Intersect, he had begun to feel very protective over Sarah. She was the most important person in his life and he would rather give up the rest of his life to the government than watch her die. One objective was added to every mission they went on and that was to make sure Sarah stayed safe.

Sarah smiled at his concern and said, "Nothing's going on, I was just, um… I was kind of hoping… It's stupid." Sarah laughed nervously and just wanted to hide under her comforter and disappear into oblivion.

"No it's not, just tell me. Nothing you say is stupid." Chuck sounded a lot more awake now.

"It's just…" Sarah sighed and covered her face with her hand. "I can't sleep and—"

"I'll be right over," Chuck cut in. She could hear rustling in the background and pictured him putting on a sweatshirt – "_Hoodie_," she corrected herself at the sound of a zipper.

"Uh, Chuck?" She stopped him before he could hang up.

"Yeah, babe," he said distractedly.

Sarah paused, thinking of all the things she could say. "_You really don't have to," "Thanks," "Hurry up." _All were things she could have said. None were what she actually said.

"Bring your guitar?" She said it as a question, not wanting to sound too dependent. She knew no matter what she asked of him he'd do, but she still always felt awkward asking. Chuck had told her on multiple occasions it was fine and she shouldn't even have to think about asking, but she never really felt comfortable testing the waters to see what was and wasn't fair ground.

"Of course," he said, disrupting any second-guesses going through her head at the moment. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

--

It was now eleven minutes since she had hung up and Sarah was freaking out.

"Where _is_ he?" she asked the same ceiling she had been staring at all night.

A soft knock at the door caused her to spring off of the bed and jog over to the green door with Chuck Bartowski waiting on the other side. Opening the door quickly, she was greeted by the sight of her slightly disheveled boyfriend smiling crookedly at her. She noticed that she was right about the hoodie and he had also thrown on a pair of loose jeans as well as the guitar case hanging from across his chest.

"You're late," she whined, non-menacingly.

"I'm sorry," he said adorably, "I couldn't find my left shoe. I came as fast as I could." She smiled forgivingly at him and stood up on her toes to place a lingering kiss on his lips. Taking his hand in hers, she led him into the room towards the bed.

"I'm sorry about waking you up," she said as she climbed onto the bed and he pulled the strap off over his head.

"Don't be sorry. You never have to worry about that. You are my one exception. Not even Morgan can get me out of bed in the middle of the night." Chuck sat on the edge of the bed and faced her with his hand on her leg. Sarah rested her head on her own hand and looked up at him with bright eyes. He bent his head down and kissed her before saying, "So, how can I help?"

"Play me something?" Sarah tucked her hand between her legs and bit her bottom lip self-consciously. Chuck nodded and reached down to get his guitar before situating himself onto the bed. "Wait." Sarah reached out to him and grabbed the zipper on his hoodie. Pulling it down, she quickly realized that he had neglected putting on a shirt. "Wow, Chuck, what'd you think was going to happen tonight?" Luckily this time when she asked him he had an answer instead of another question.

Blushing, Chuck said, "I told you I came as fast as I could." Sarah smiled and continued to undo the zipper. He slid his arms out of it and she eyed his jeans. "You planning on sleeping in those?" Chuck got rid of the jeans and lifted the sheets for the both of them to climb in. Sarah snuggled up against him and put her head on his shoulder. She wedged her leg in between his and breathed in his scent as he started to play. She watched his fingers move fluidly over the strings and quickly became mesmerized by it.

After several minutes, Chuck turned to ask her something when instead he stopped to look at Sarah, sound asleep on his shoulder. He smiled at how peaceful she looked and brushed her bangs out of her face. Chuck lightly kissed her forehead and put his guitar on the floor. He had come to find that once she was asleep, Sarah turned into one big stuffed animal, so when Chuck lay down flat on his back, he easily pulled her tight against him, making sure her head was in the crook of his neck and her arm was around his waist. It's how she would have ended up positioning herself by the morning anyways.

"Goodnight, Sarah," he whispered before leaning over and turning off the bedside lamp, enveloping the room in darkness.

--

Waking up the next morning, they went through their usual routine. Sarah wasn't as hostile considering she was at least in her bed, but that didn't stop Chuck from quickly calming her down before she could attack. They were now lying in bed as the sun rays slipped past the curtains. Somehow it made her hair even shinier. She lay horizontally with her head resting on his stomach.

Looking up at him, she said, "What you did last night was really sweet."

"Don't mention it," Chuck said.

"I mean it, Chuck. It really meant a lot." Sarah grabbed his hand and rolled her head to the side to face him. "I never wanted to be high maintenance, I just…" Sarah didn't know what to say. She couldn't find the right words but after years of communicating through actions instead of words, Chuck knew what she was trying to tell him.

"I don't think you are, Sarah," he reassured her. "Don't worry, I completely understand. You don't have to feel guilty, I mean… I kind of like being there for you. As dumb as it may sound, it kind of makes me feel useful."

Sarah sat up and crawled over on top of him. She kissed him slowly and passionately, but pulled away before they got too far. "Chuck, trust me when I say I would like nothing more than to stay in bed with you all day, but we both have to get ready for work." Chuck groaned and grabbed her wrist before she could get off him. Falling back in top of him, Sarah laughed and ran her hands through his curls. "Come on, lover boy, time to get up. Plenty of time for that _after_ we finish work." With one last quick kiss, Sarah got off the bed and walked towards the bathroom. When she turned around to shut the door, her eyes locked onto his big brown puppy dog ones and she broke. Sarah sighed, but smiling the whole time she said, "Okay, Chuck. _One_ shower." Without shutting the door, Sarah pulled off her tank top, leaving her in nothing but blue and white striped boy short panties. The sight of her almost paralyzed Chuck, but the loss of her panties made him sprint to follow her.

--

They split up and took separate cars considering Chuck had driven the Herder to Sarah's hotel when she called. Every time Sarah got behind him she'd lean on the horn obnoxiously, and then Chuck would go five mph slower. It went on like that until they reached the Buy More plaza, when they parked next to each other. Sarah got out of her Porsche and walked around the car to Chuck.

"No offense, sweetie, but you drive like an old lady," Sarah said as nicely as she could.

"And you drive like… Well, Sarah there aren't words to describe how you drive," Chuck laughed.

"Don't forget to come over on your break," she said as she fixed his tie, "It's the best part of my day."

"I won't," he said. "Save me an Obama Guava." Sarah laughed and kissed him goodbye before they walked to their respective places of work.

As soon as he entered the store, Chuck was greeted by the permanent snarl situated on one John Casey's face.

"Pull another stunt like you did last night and I won't hesitate to shoot a tracking device up your nose so far it'll light up every time you get an idea." Chuck stepped back away from Casey's wrath and held up his hands.

"Calm down, Casey, I was over at Sarah's," Chuck said.

"I bet you were, hot shot." Casey looked around before sticking the price gun to Chuck's neck. "Listen up, Bartowski. Just because you've got blondie wrapped around your little finger and letting you dip your chocolate in her peanut butter does not mean you stop following the rules. So help me God, I will leave you with nothing to dip, you got it?" Chuck's eyes were as wide as saucers. Slowly and extremely cautiously, Chuck lifted his hand and moved the price gun away.

"Loud and clear, Casey." Casey grunted intimidatingly and Chuck quickly walked away.

Chuck worked at the Nerd Herd desk helping customers and just having one of those days. He still couldn't complain too much considering the way it started out with Sarah in the shower. He smiled as he pictured the hot water dripping over her body and her hands…

"Chuck!" Chuck almost fell out of his chair, not realizing how far back he had been leaning. Finding the origin of the voice, Chuck turned and saw Morgan approaching fast.

"Yeah, buddy," he said after regaining his balance.

Morgan jumped up on the counter. "What do you say? You. Me. Call of Duty tournament. All night long," he said, stretching out the word "all."

If Chuck hadn't been thinking about his morning with the love of his life he probably would have said yes. But he had, and therefore knew he needed to be there for her.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I can't, I'm totally swamped tonight. Late hours and then I've… got this thing with Sarah. You don't want to hear about it." Chuck stood up to walk away but Morgan followed right on his heels.

"Come on, man, there are no secrets between us. _Details._"

Chuck stopped and turned around, hating himself for how wrong that statement was. If only Morgan knew about the secrets he had been keeping. "That does not mean that there are no secrets between _Sarah_ and you, Morgan. Trust me it's nothing."

"Okay… so if it's nothing then you can skip, right?"

Chuck sighed. "It's… it's not _nothing_, it's just nothing that… requires your attention." Chuck shook his head at his choice of words.

Morgan nodded and said, "Alright, buddy, I'll back down. Video games aren't going anywhere, right?"

Chuck smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Casey beckon him over by the Nerd Herd desk. "Right. Hey, I'll talk to you later." Chuck walked off and headed to Casey. "Hey, what's going on, is there a mission?"

Casey grunted. "Not unless you had enough time while talking to your idiot friend to flash on something." Chuck looked at him un-amused. "Okay, if you want to keep sneaking out to Walker's we're going to have to make up a code word. Just say it out loud when you go and that will let me know where you're going."

"That's not a bad idea." Chuck saw the look Casey was giving him. "Not that you ever have a bad idea! But this one is particularly… not bad."

"Smooth," Casey said sarcastically. "The code word is going to be 'pineapple.' Just say it when you go out."

"PINEAPPLE?!" Chuck and Casey immediately turned to see Jeff standing there shocked. "Morgan! Pineapple!"

"Oh, shit," Chuck whispered under his breath. Before he knew it, the fire alarms had been pulled and people were going insane.

"Evacuate the store!" Big Mike yelled as he ran out the front with several donuts and his Marlin in his arms.

Sarah watched curiously from across the parking lot as people ran out of the Buy More. She sighed when she saw Chuck and Casey walk out. It looked like they were arguing. "_No surprise there_," she thought. Sarah closed the store and went out to talk to them. Chuck saw her first and met her halfway.

"Hey what happened?"

Chuck turned and pointed at Casey. "Mr. Hyde over there said the emergency word, causing the entire store to evacuate and go into complete chaos." Looking at his watch, he said, "Right about now, Jeff should be locking himself in a car, Lester will be hitting on any female within range and saying he put out the nonexistent fire with his bare hands, and Morgan and Anna will be getting into a fight. Should be several _hours_ before anyone gets back to work."

"Great, want to go somewhere for lunch?"

Chuck smiled brightly and held out his arm, "I thought you'd never ask."

Chuck and Sarah had almost reached her car when Big Mike yelled, "Bartowski!" Before turning around, Sarah looked at Chuck, communicating to him that it was either her or the job. Funny how things have changed.

"Hold on one second, I'll be right back." Sarah looked at him with pleading eyes, but he didn't see as he was already walking away. She watched him talking to Big Mike and could tell that his face was getting more and more dejected the longer it went on. After they finished talking, Chuck walked over to Sarah.

"You have to stay, don't you?" Sarah got her answer in the form of a sad nod.

"Because of this, Big Mike is cutting all our breaks and making us all stay late. He says we have "wasted precious store hours" and therefore are working late. I'm not sure when I'll get off because I was going to have to stay late anyways to get caught up in the cage. I'm really sorry, Sarah." Chuck did look sorry. All day he had looked forward to seeing her and now because Casey said the name of a tropical fruit, that didn't seem to be in the cards.

"Don't be," Sarah waved off. "It's not your fault."

"I'll make this up to you. I promise." Chuck leaned down and kissed her before going back to the chaotic crowd.

"Okay, bye…" Sarah said to herself.

--

Chuck sat in the cage working half-assed on some broken laptops. His coworkers had long since gone, leaving him to pull an all-nighter. His thoughts switched between motherboards to blonde CIA agents faster than Big Mike could eat a chocolate glazed munchkin. Checking the time on his watch he saw that it was already 10:30 and he still had at least an hour of work left on a good day when he wasn't suffering from short term Attention Deficit Disorder. Sarah was quickly becoming his anti-Ritalin.

A half hour later containing only ten minutes of real work, Chuck decided he could afford to take a break. Sarah must be going to sleep right about now, or trying to.

"_God I'm such an asshole_," Chuck thought as he imagined Sarah lying in bed trying to go to sleep. Grabbing a scrap piece of paper, Chuck took the pen from his shirt pocket and started to write. If he couldn't be with Sarah then he would at least do something for her in the meantime.

--

Over at the Maison23 hotel in room 832 Sarah Walker was feeling very angry at the moment. She was angry about her letting herself get so comfortable with something to the point that she couldn't be without it. She hated Big Mike for making Chuck stay late. She hated Casey for saying that fucking word. She hated Chuck...

"_No I don't_," she thought to herself, snapping out of her inner tirade. She loved Chuck and was way beyond the point of anything being able to change that. She loved how he would do anything for her without even having to be asked. He always just knew exactly—

Sarah perked up at the knock on her door. Once again, she sprung out of her bed and raced over to open it. Sarah didn't even care that she was topless due to the excessive heat that night. The second Chuck saw her his eyebrows raised to his hairline. Sarah didn't wait long enough for him to say anything before grabbing his collar with both hands and smashing her lips to his. After ten seconds, Chuck realized Sarah wasn't going to stop and so he moved them into the room and closed the door, eliminating the possibility of someone seeing his girlfriend's naked rack. Chuck picked her up and carried her over to the bed. When he put her down, he broke away from her.

"I thought you might be awake. Even though it's," Chuck looked at the alarm clock he had bought her, "two in the morning."

Sarah lay there looking up at him, completely un-bashful regarding her state of undress. "I love you."

Chuck smiled widely, but instead of reciprocating the gesture, he said, "I have a surprise for you."

"Chuck, it's two in the morning can't it wait?" The smile on his face told her all she needed to know. "Okay, fine, what's my surprise?"

Chuck got his guitar, which Sarah had failed to notice when she jumped him at the door. She couldn't stop the smiled creeping on her face.

"Well, I know how you were having trouble sleeping, so I wrote a song to help you." Sarah's face told Chuck at that moment just how much she adored him. He exceeded all expectations. She had barely had any experience of being in a serious relationship, so she couldn't be the judge of what was and wasn't how one should work. The only thing she was sure of is that Chuck Bartowski was better than 99% of all the boyfriends/husbands in the world. She didn't need experience to know that.

Sarah moved from the compromising position Chuck had put her in and went to her side of the bed. Chuck looked at her and then looked away.

"Okay this is not going to work," he said.

"What?" she asked him pointedly.

"You need a shirt," he said as he stared at the wall wondering who the hell's bright idea was it to put mirrors there. "There is no way I can do that with your… you know… _out._"

"There's only one shirt in here I'll wear…" Chuck looked at her expectantly before figuring it out.

"Fine," he said, taking off his t-shirt and giving it to her. Once Sarah had the shirt on she inhaled its scent.

"Mmm. It smells like you."

"You know what also smells like me?" Chuck said. "Me."

"Let's find out." Sarah moved in snug against him and kissed his shoulder before putting her head there. "Hey, you were right."

Chuck smiled and asked her if she was comfortable. She nodded and he said, "I wrote this while I couldn't stop thinking about you at work."

"Bonus points," Sarah mumbled.

Chuck started playing softly and Sarah closed her eyes, surrendering herself to only four of the five senses.

"Baby sleep in peace tonight  
Angels bend to watch the sight  
And may your dreams be sweet tonight  
Dance the sky in sweet delight"

Sarah almost didn't want to fall asleep. She loved hearing Chuck sing and while he played his guitar for her often, singing had become pretty rare. She was glad she lasted long enough to hear the next verse.

"And know I love you  
I always will  
It's my favorite story  
I have to tell"

Even though her eyes were still closed, Sarah smiled into his shoulder. Just being there for her when she needed him was enough to show her how much he loved her.

"And Baby, let's go far away  
And see this world that God has made  
And know our hearts are in fate's hand  
This lovely one that counts the sands"

Sarah was drifting in and out by now. Chuck could tell she was fading fast and was happy it was working. When Chuck had first found out Sarah was a top CIA agent he would have never guessed that in three years she would be asking him to sing her to sleep. But Sarah wasn't that hard as nails CIA agent anymore. Now she was just a woman in love with a man. And the happiest moment in Chuck Bartowski's life so far has been finding out that he was that man.

"And know I love you  
Oh I always will  
It's my favorite story  
I have to tell"

--

Sarah woke up the next morning in Chuck's arms and for the first time instead of planning how to attack the man holding her, she smiled and kissed her boyfriend's collarbone. She had never felt so comfortable and _safe_. Safety was a myth in the spy world. Only an illusion that got fresh agents killed, and an incentive that would never truly come to be. That had been Sarah Walker's mindset for her entire life. Not anymore. At that moment in bed with Chuck, who was still sound asleep, Sarah experienced for the first time what it was like to feel safe. How an unconscious man could do that to her was beyond her. All she knew was that he had and she didn't regret it for one second. Was this what she had been missing out on all these years? A family? Check. Friends? Check. Love? Check. A life? Sarah looked at Chuck and images of a backyard with kids playing and Chuck, _her husband_. Sarah knew it was only a matter of time before that would be checked off, too.

Sarah rolled to the side of the bed and made two phone calls; one to room service, and the other to the Buy More. After ordering breakfast and calling Chuck in sick, Sarah saw the lovable nerd begin to stir. He opened his eyes and looked around, wondering why the only thing under his arm was a bed sheet.

"Morning, sleepy head," Sarah said.

Chuck wiped his eyes and looked at her. "Sarah? What time is it?"

"Ten thirty." Chuck's eyes widened and he bolted up to a sitting position. Sarah gently pushed him back down. "Calm down, I called you in sick." He looked at her questioningly and she said, "You've been working a lot lately, and I assumed staying in bed with you all day would still be on the table?"

Chuck smiled up at her and said, "It always is." He kissed her, but was interrupted when room service knocked on the door and Sarah got up to get it. Grabbing his phone from the pocket of his jeans that were lying on the floor next to the bed, Chuck sent a quick text message.

_To: Casey  
Sent: 10:36 AM_

_Pineapple._

_---_

_Mr. Hyde - from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_

_Munchkin - Donut hole of the Dunkin' Donuts persuasion. I'm from Boston so I'm not sure what the west coast donut places are, but here it's double D's._

_Maison23 room 832 - That's what it was in Chuck vs. the DeLorean_

_Please review. And suggestions for songs are greatly appreciated, so if you have a song that you would like to see add that in your review. Has to be something that Chuck would play on his guitar, though. Right now I'm leaning towards a certain MXPX song, but I still think there's a better one out there._


	3. Quit Your Life

_And I'm back. Thanks for the reviews you are all fantastical. Warms my heart. This chapter contains a song I have always wanted to write a Chuck/Sarah fic for and it's been one of my favorites for a long time. Because the song could be seen through either Sarah or Chuck's point of view I decided to not have it be a Chuck original. Instead, Chuck and I will just have a very similar taste in music. This could possibly be the last update if I run out of inspiration. This one's got a few more swear words in it, so little ones... earmuffs. Or in this case I guess it would be... eyepatch? I don't think it's that much but this day and age everyone's so freaking PC I never know what's okay. Warning: you're going to have to suspend your disbelief at one point. I suck at angst. My apologies. But it gets the story where I want it to go so just... hang in there._

--

Sarah no longer had to worry about calling Chuck in the middle of the night to come over. Now all she had to do was nudge the body lying next to her. Because they were now a real couple, Chuck had become comfortable with living with Sarah. Ellie started it all with her constant talk about them taking the next step, and Chuck readily agreed with her. Chuck asked Sarah before mentioning it to anyone and she quickly said yes, followed with a, "You sure took your time with this one, Chuck." Beckman supported the decision as well, since she had wanted it to happen almost a year ago. Casey helped the rest of the family move them in to Chuck and Sarah's new condo, which looked more like a five star hotel's honeymoon suite. Ellie was in awe when she first saw it. Sarah explained that she had recently come into a large inheritance from a wealthy relative. Awesome distracted Ellie from asking anymore questions before the government put out a hit on her. To Chuck's delight, Casey's reason for being there was not to set up surveillance cameras and bugs. Instead, it was to install motion sensors and any other security method needed. They were on the top floor and the only way up was the elevator, so any enemy would be caught with a barrel between the eyes once the doors slid open courtesy of Sarah Walker.

It had now been six months since they moved in together. He had begun to get paid by the mission and lately there had been an abundance of high profile ones, which called for major compensation. Chuck felt awkward with all the money and wasn't sure how to explain it to friends and family, so the CIA had set him up with some bogus job as a cover. After flashing on every single person he looked at on his first day, Chuck came to the realization that it was just a CIA front. It was scarily similar to the Fulcrum one they had infiltrated with Jill, except now he was allowed on the eighth floor. After a few fake promotions Chuck could now spend the money he had without looking suspicious. The first thing he bought was movie tickets and a bag of Skittles for Sarah when he took her to the movies. Chuck didn't feel the urge to flash his money around for everyone to see. Only the people he cared about the most knew and that was good enough for him. He didn't need a diamond-studded watch to impress random strangers.

Chuck sat in front of the computer with his guitar in his lap. Memorizing the tabs on the monitor, Chuck went over them again and again in his head and on the guitar. A soft knock on the already open door made Chuck look up at Sarah. She was wearing dark blue low-rise skinny jeans, a white t-shirt and Chuck's worn out Dodgers hat. Her hair rested around her shoulders in loose waves and Chuck wasn't sure why but her eyes looked more blue than usual.

"Ready?" she asked him as she leaned against the doorframe.

"Ready," he answered back, putting the guitar away and walking over to her. Holding her hand, they rode the elevator to the first floor. "Are you excited?"

"Should I be?" she asked wearily.

"Yes, Sarah, that would be the normal reaction to going to a professional baseball game," Chuck said sarcastically. "Especially since it's your first one."

"So now I'm normal?" Sarah's face dared him to get himself out of this one.

Chuck looked at her and laughed. "Oh, you're playing _that_ card, are you?" Sarah smiled smugly. "Fine, you win," he said as he leaned down to kiss her, tilting his head because of the visor on her hat.

"I _am_ excited, by the way," Sarah said before leaving him behind as the elevator doors opened. Chuck jogged to catch up to her and grabbed her waist as they both laughed together in the middle of the lobby.

The employees working there had become used to the happy couple and both Sarah and Chuck had their very own admirers. The men had quickly caught wind of Sarah's beauty while the women were dazzled by Chuck's charming nature. When Sarah and Chuck had angrily walked into the building after a long mission jeopardized by Chuck's mistake, everyone thought maybe it was over between the two and they could now make their moves. Of course, the next day Chuck and Sarah walked out holding hands and looking at each other with pure adoration. Then when they had seen Chuck walk in with a smoking hot red head, they had all thought he was cheating. They were then thoroughly confused when the next day they saw Sarah hugging her goodbye.

"Mr. Bartowski," Andy the twenty-something doorman nodded, "Ms. Walker."

"Hi, Andy," Sarah said with a bright smile.

Andy smiled boyishly at just two words said by her. "Any good plans for today?"

"Dodgers game," Chuck happily offered with his hand on the small of Sarah's back. "Look for us behind the plate."

"Will do, sir," Andy replied as he opened the door for them. "Have a good one."

--

When Chuck and Sarah got to their seats, Sarah became a main attraction in their section.

"These seats have a great view," one overly muscular guy said to his scrawnier friend.

"I know, right? I can see the whole field," his friend said.

"Not of the field, moron," Muscles said. "Check out the hot piece sitting right there. Her boyfriend must be either rich or _huge_ in order to bag her."

Overhearing, Sarah had to make a decision from pummeling the man's face in, or rubbing his face in it. She chose the latter and used the hand that had been playing with the curls at the back of Chuck's neck to yank his head so he was facing her. She planted a rough, and extremely sexual kiss on his lips as her hands ran through his hair. Chuck was caught off guard and pleasantly surprised. He caught up with Sarah and matched her in intensity. He didn't know what had brought on her onslaught on his mouth but he wasn't complaining. Sarah finally broke the kiss as her eyes stayed shut and her chest heaved up and down. With one final feathery light kiss they both looked into each other's eyes. Chuck's were full of questions. Sarah slightly turned to look at Muscles and mouthed, "He's both." Chuck was busy awkwardly smiling and nodding at all the people giving them dirty looks. This was a family event after all. One twelve-year-old was just staring at them with his jaw on the floor.

"_You're welcome_," Chuck thought, remembering what it was like to be twelve.

"Uh, sweetheart," he said softly to Sarah, "You're going to get us kicked out."

"Whatever," Sarah said as she watched the game. Chuck smiled and rested his arm around her shoulders.

By the fourth inning Sarah had really gotten into the game. Her celebration ritual was kissing Chuck, so he was happy about her newfound interest. It ended up that where they were sitting, front row behind home plate, there was a hole in the net that caught the foul balls right over their heads. Only one baseball dropped, but that was enough for Chuck to give Sarah a souvenir.

Now the two of them were walking out of the park over to Chuck's car. Chuck had splurged on the hybrid Fisker Karma. Chuck had never really been a car guy but he loved this car. He also loved that Sarah loved his car.

"Chuck, where are we going?" Chuck had driven in the opposite direction of where they lived.

"Relax, Sarah, I just want to make one more stop." Out of the corner of his peripheral vision Chuck caught Sarah eying him. Laughing, he said, "Sweetie, it's not like I'm going to murder you with an axe. Just trust me."

"I always trust you." Chuck reached out and held her hand, bringing it up and lightly kissing the back of it.

"This is a pretty appropriate conversation considering where I'm taking you," he said as he slowed down at a red light. He looked to his right to see Sarah's face slowly light up. Chuck smiled equally and continued driving when the light turned green.

"You think you're so clever," Sarah teased.

"I was going for romantic, but clever works, too." Chuck and Sarah smiled at each other.

--

After parking, Chuck ran around and got Sarah's door. "Wow, you're not cutting any corners today," Sarah said impressed as she placed her hand in his outstretched one.

"I don't cut corners when it comes to you." The fact that he could still make her blush was attribute to the kind of guy Chuck was. Chuck closed the passenger door and then went to the trunk where he pulled out a dark blue blanket and one other thing. While he did that, Sarah sat on the hood.

"Chuck?" She called to the opposite end.

"Yeah?" he asked as he walked over. Sarah was currently trying to get her black boots off. Chuck saw this and said, "I got it." He gently cradled her heel as he slowly pulled the zipper on the side down. Removing it, he put it next to her and repeated the process on her other one, never once breaking eye contact. Sarah thanked him with a quick but sultry kiss and they walked in the sand with their fingers entwined.

As their feet left imprints in the sand after every step taken, a light ocean breeze blew through their hair. The sun was beginning to set, creating a glow on their skin. Once Chuck had found his spot, he released her hand and sat down. Sarah followed suit and sat with her knees under her. Chuck had his knees pulled towards his chest with his arms around them loose and relaxed. They sat facing the ocean and watched as the sky turned to a fiery sunset.

Sarah leaned over and into Chuck's shoulder, causing him to sway to the side. "Some déjà vu, huh?"

Chuck nodded slightly still watching the orange sky. "This is where it all started. The night I spent sitting here with by _far_ the craziest…" Chuck kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, "…Most perfect woman in the world."

Sarah and Chuck re-linked hands and stayed silent as they watched the stars come out. Once it was completely black above them they laid flat on their backs, heads together and hands joined as they looked up into the unknown. The two hadn't talked at all for twenty minutes and yet they still spoke at the same time as the other.

"Sarah, I need to—"

"This is so—"

They both laughed at the coincidence. "You first," Chuck said softly.

"I was just thinking," Sarah said softly, as well. "I don't want anything to change. I just want to stay here with you and just be happy."

"You're happy?" Chuck said, not as a question but he just wanted to hear it again.

"Yeah, I think I am," Sarah whispered. Chuck tightened his hold on her hand. "For the first time in a long, _long_ time everything is great. I honestly just want everything to stay like this forever. I don't want anything else to happen." At this Chuck slowly slid his hand out of his pocket. They were both still looking up, so Sarah missed Chuck looking like he had just been punched in the stomach and stopped breathing for a few seconds.

"Yeah," Chuck said weakly, "… me, too."

Sarah turned her head to look at him. "What were you going to say?"

"Hm?" he said quickly as he looked at her. "Oh… nothing. Um, just… what you said." Chuck bit his upper lip. "You want to get out of here?"

"Okay," she said, not really minding where they were.

--

Sarah noticed that Chuck had been fairly distant during the drive home. She didn't know why and instead of the comfortable silence they had at the beach, this one was awkward.

"Hey," Sarah said leaning in to him so he would at least acknowledge her.

"Hey." Chuck's strained smile didn't convince her that nothing was going on.

That was the extent of their conversation up to their building. Walking in, Chuck plastered a smile on his face for Andy and walked two steps ahead of her all the way towards the elevator. Even Andy could tell something had gone wrong with the couple. It was a drastic change in attitude from when he said goodbye to them earlier.

The two of them got in the elevator and Sarah pushed the button to their floor, seeing as Chuck wasn't about to do anything. This was the first time Sarah regretted living on the top floor. It gave them the maximum amount of tension filled silence possible. Once they got to their condo, Chuck tossed the keys on the counter.

"I had a lot of fun today," Sarah said.

Chuck gave a tiny smile to the counter, as he hadn't looked at her. "I told you you would. I'm going to go take a shower. See you in bed?"

Before she could answer he was already gone. Sarah puckered her lips to the side and twirled her ankle, wondering what was next. Chuck was putting on a pretty acceptable facade of being alright, but you don't get the title of CIA's top agent from being fooled by "pretty acceptable." Something must have really shaken him up. Sarah desperately wanted to know what was going on, but he wouldn't give her any way in. From the beach to where she stood now it was like a force field around him. This isn't okay. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Sarah was supposed to be the emotionally stunted one of the pair, not Chuck. She'd never seen him like this before. He had made such a big deal about this day the past week, like he was about to come to a major turning point in his life. He was all smiles, constantly making sure she knew how much he loved her. He had even given her his old Dodgers hat which had almost as much, if not more, sentimental value than the charm bracelet he had given her. He had told her his dad gave him that just before leaving. It was the last time Chuck had seen his dad until getting caught up in the Orion search over ten years later. What caught Sarah's eye next was the gun Chuck has recently acquired after training with Casey. Only a few weeks ago did Chuck gain full control of his Intersect given abilities, allowing him the clearance to carry a weapon. Sarah hadn't been thrilled when she first found out about his aspirations, but she knew it could only benefit the team and Chuck's morale. Right? Sarah was still getting over that hurdle. It wasn't easy seeing someone you love transform into exactly what you want to leave behind.

Sarah had been left just standing there, so to pass the time she decided to go on the computer. She had to move Chuck's guitar off the seat so there was room for her. Looking at the screen, she saw a bunch of lines with numbers and letters on them. At first Sarah wasn't sure what to make of it. She scrolled up to the top of the page and saw that they were "guitar tabs" whatever that was. She didn't like spying on Chuck, considering what she did for a living, but this time she considered what she was doing as the actions of a curious girlfriend. The papers on the desk were neat except for one blank piece of paper haphazardly thrown over one that seemed to have writing on it. She slightly moved the top paper and saw the title.

'QUIT YOUR LIFE'

"_Oh my god,"_ Sarah thought. Was Chuck going to…? _"No,"_ She told herself. There was no way. Just tonight he had told her he was happy. He had been practically giddy in the days approaching and at the game today. From the back corners of her brain Sarah's memory of one class at the Farm came front and center.

_"How to know if your asset is suicidal," her teacher, Mrs. Wembly, said to the class of fresh young agents. Listening to her voice for an hour made most of the students feel suicidal. "Most obvious signs: depression, feeling like they have no purpose in life, and talking about death. Meaning, if your asset says, "I am going to kill myself," you might want to pay attention. This line of work isn't easy for those without the proper training and it can take it's toll mentally. Constantly remind them that what they are doing makes a difference. _

_"If you have done that first step correctly, a certain bond should form between you. That bond needs to last you through noticing the more subtle signs. You must be able to recognize changes in their eating and sleeping habits. Any drugs entering their system you find out about and stop. Mood swings can happen like that," she said, snapping her fingers together, "so stay on your toes._

_"If for some strange exception the asset is in touch with family and friends, be aware of any important objects that are being given away to loved ones. That is in preparation for taking their life. Often times they will say what they haven't had a chance to say and try their best to communicate the things they want people to know and remember. And for God's sake if you remember one thing I say in this class, please let it be this: **D****o not give them access to a gun.**"_

The rest of the lesson blurred in her mind at the same time Sarah's tears blurred her vision. She couldn't believe this was happening. She now understood the mood swing, the hat, the telling her how much he loved her. And that mother fucking gun. She knew she never should have let them give him that. She couldn't help her sobs that were growing louder by the second and her head fell into her hands as she cried. She kept trying to convince herself that the signs didn't exist. However running over them again just made her cry harder as she imagined life without him. Her shoulders shook with every shaking breath she took and tears wet the very same page that had caused them to form.

The first time Chuck thought he heard something he convinced himself he was only imagining things. The second time caused him to pause and wait for more. Not long after that came a third noise and Chuck quickly shut of the water, wrapped his towel around his waist and ran out to find Sarah with her head buried in her arms and her whole body convulsing at every sob.

"Sarah?" he said worriedly as he ran over and kneeled down next to her. He rubbed her back but his presence only seemed to make her cry even more. "Talk to me, sweetie, what's going on?" No response. "Hey. Hey, it's alright, okay? I'm here. I'm going to make this better. Tell me what's wrong."

Without warning Sarah was pressing her face into his shoulder and wrapping her arms tight around his neck. "Why would you do this?"

"_Oh no,"_ he thought, _"she must have found out somehow."_ Chuck didn't know what to say.

"I—I guess I thought that it was time to move forward," he stammered, moving to cradle her head.

Sarah pounded her fist into his chest. "Why! Why would you think that?"

"I thought that's what you wanted," he explained wearily.

"Why the fuck would I _ever_ want that!" Sarah was crying uncontrollably and Chuck was so overwhelmed by her reaction.

Chuck's heart broke. He thought that that was everything Sarah had longed for. He couldn't believe how wrong he was. "I'm sorry. Casey said—"

"Chuck, why would you ever take what Casey says seriously? He didn't mean it, he was probably just joking. _God_ why are you such an idiot! I would never want that. I love you."

The last sentence confused him to no end. "If you love me then this should make you happy!"

"Killing yourself would make me _happy?_" she screamed.

Chuck stopped dead in his tracks. "…What?"

"Chuck, please don't do this. _Please_," she begged. Chuck pulled back and faced her, seeing how red her eyes were.

"Sarah, I don't think we're talking about the same thing. What do mean me "killing myself"? Like suicide? Why would you ever think that?" Sarah stared at him dumbfounded.

"I saw the sheet," she breathed. Chuck's face didn't show any signs of recognition and she reached up onto the desk to grab the paper. Holding it in front of his face, Sarah watched as he realized what it was and rubbed his hand over his face. Now he was in deep shit.

He couldn't tell her what it really was, especially after what she said on the beach. But on the other hand, he couldn't let her think he was suicidal. She had said she loved him, maybe that meant she just wanted to stay how they were. Chuck was taking longer than Sarah would have liked and he could see her face twist into despair.

"Sarah, it's not what you think," he said slowly. "Quit Your Life is a song. I was…" Chuck took a deep breath to calm his nerves. While doing that he realized they were just kneeling on the floor, so he said, "Do you think we could move to the bed?" Chuck got up and sat down on the bed, still in his towel. Sarah watched him without moving and didn't stand until he had sat down and looked at her. She went and sat next to him. "Look, Sarah, Quit Your Life is a song. And before you ask, no I didn't write it. It's by a real band. I was learning how to play it for you." Chuck slowly winced after he said the last two words. His only opening had been just saying he was learning a song. Now he couldn't turn back.

"For me?" Chuck could tell she just wanted to understand everything. Sarah got a suspicious look on her face and said, "What were you talking about over there?"

Chuck froze. Swallowing hard he said, "That, uh… That's kind of the hard part." Chuck rubbed the back of his neck. "You know what? Fuck it. I'm just going to put it out there and you can react whichever way you want." Abruptly standing up, Chuck grabbed his guitar and sat in the chair by the computer. Jumping into it without so much as looking at her, Chuck started playing.

"I've been everywhere around the world  
And finally here tonight  
You seem to be the only one  
To make me feel alright  
I feel good  
When I know you're coming down  
I feel good  
When I know you'll be around"

"_Wait a second," _Sarah thought, _"this isn't a sad song… It's a _love_ song."_

"So quit your life and stay with me  
We'll order in and watch TV  
We'll paint the house and wash the car  
We'll take a walk but not too far  
So quit your life and stay with me"

Sarah did not see any of this coming. It wasn't quit _Chuck's_ life. It was quit _her_ life. "Life" was a pretty loose term when speaking of her CIA career. In her eyes she had no life.

"New York to Los Angeles  
And all the towns between  
After miles and hours on the road  
You're the best I've seen  
I feel good  
You're the best friend that I've found  
I feel good  
When I'm coming back to your town"

Sarah wasn't sure what her reaction to all of this was. It didn't help that he was refusing to look at her. He seemed so deflated. And it was all her fault. And she didn't even know _why_ it was her fault.

"So quit your life and stay with me  
We'll order in and watch TV  
We'll paint the house and wash the car  
We'll take a walk but not too far  
So quit your life and stay with me"

Sarah listened closely to his words and her heart stopped. _"Oh my-- he's proposing!"_ Sarah thought about what had happened the whole day. She walked in while he was playing his guitar in front of the computer. _"That's what the tabs were for,"_ she pieced together. And then at the beach they both said something, but she talked first and said she didn't want anything, _"to change… Fuck, that's why he was depressed! I'm such a moron. And then when he was talking about that's what he thought I wanted… Of course that's what I want!"_

"I heard the road it was calling my name  
I walked towards the light  
And I ran towards the flame"  
Chuck finally looked straight into her eyes.  
"I ran towards the flame…"

Sarah looked straight back into his eyes and immediately knew what her answer would be.

"After all is said and done  
I don't mind saying again  
I'll say it's true that I'm in love  
With the places that I've been  
I feel good  
When I know you're coming down  
I feel good  
When I know you'll be around"

She couldn't help the tears that were forming in her eyes and subtly wiped them away, not wanting him to think he was upsetting her. In actuality this was the greatest day of her life. Chuck looked at her with the hint of a smile for the very last part of the song. Sarah's laughter let him know that those were happy tears, and that made him feel so light on the inside he didn't know what to do with himself.

"So quit your life and stay with me  
We'll order in and watch TV  
We'll paint the house and wash the car  
We'll take a walk but not too far  
So quit your life and stay with me  
So quit your life and stay with me  
So quit your life and stay with me  
Stay with me…"

Sarah didn't wait for him to ask before she was straddling his lap through the chair and kissing him.

"I take it you know what I'm going to ask?" he said as he pulled away.

"I've got a pretty good guess in mind," she said, pulling him in for another kiss.

"Well, are you going to let me ask?" he said in between kisses. Sarah stopped and looked at him. "For tradition's sake," he shrugged adorably.

Sarah climbed off him and let him move to the bathroom where his jacket was lying on the floor and a little blue box lay inside the right side pocket. Pulling it out, Chuck took a moment to stare at it and take in what was happening. Everything just seemed so surreal. Walking back into the bedroom, Chuck saw her sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him. With a bright smile, Chuck kneeled down in front of her and held out the box.

"Sarah, I know I look completely ridiculous in only a towel right now," he said making her laugh and calming himself at the same time. "I also know that throughout your life names have meant very little to you. And don't worry about your past because I love everything about you. I was wondering if, for the last time, you would change your name. This time to something that means so much to both you and me. So…" Chuck took a deep breath for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, "will you do me the honor of becoming Sarah Bartowski, and marrying me?"

Sarah didn't say anything and only nodded with pure emotion. Chuck wouldn't have expected anything else. His megawatt smile she fantasized about appeared on his face and he took the solitaire diamond ring out of the box and held it up, questioning if he should put it on her. She held out her hand and he slid it on.

Sarah looked at her hand and then at him and said, "I love you." Chuck was about to say the same back when she said, "I didn't mean what I said on the beach in the way that you thought I meant it. That sounds complicated." Chuck smiled at her, encouraging her to keep talking. "I mean that what I said wasn't about me being afraid of commitment, it was about me not wanting anything to happen that would change our relationship for the worst. This is for the best." Whispering, she said, "I'm sorry I made you think I didn't love you."

"Oh, Sarah, I never thought that," he said and reached out to stroke her cheek. "Hey, look at me." Sarah looked away from the spot on the rug that had stolen her attention and focused on him. "Smile, beautiful. We're engaged." Sarah did what she was told and her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"_I'm going to marry Chuck. I'm going to _marry_ Chuck!"_ She couldn't stop saying it in her head. It was intoxicating. She'd never felt this kind of high. Finally her dreams of living the kind of life with a backyard and kids playing in it was slowly becoming a reality. How such an emotionally crippled person could years later find herself engaged to the sweetest man on earth made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but instead of finding all the holes in something good, Sarah decided to just enjoy it for what it was.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" she laughed as she tried to convince herself the same thing.

"This is really happening," he repeated. Sitting next to her on the bed, Chuck held her hand with the ring on it and said, "Listen, I—I know that this might be a little... overwhelming. And I don't want to push you into this so trust me when I say you take as long as you need with this. I've waited for you before and I can wait again."

Sarah tilted her head to the side and creases formed in her forehead. "Chuck, you don't have to worry about that."

"I know," he shrugged. "I just don't want you to feel like you owe me anything."

Sarah put her hand on the back of his neck and softly kissed him. Only inches away from his lips, she said, "Okay. But we can talk about all that stuff later." Sarah kissed his neck and said, "Right now we have some other things to attend to. Specifically," She ran her hands down his chest and didn't stop, "getting rid of this towel." Sarah un-tucked it from around his waist, exposing him entirely. She looked down and smiled. "Someone's happy to see me," she whispered into his ear, pushing him down onto his back.

Chuck ran his hands under her shirt and up her ribcage, to which she responded by lifting her arms and allowing him to pull it off over her head. Once the garment had been discarded and thrown on the floor, Sarah swung her leg over his waist and flipped her hair so it was all on one side. Leaning down, she flicked the tip of her tongue over his right earlobe and lightly nibbled on it. With both her hands planted on the bed at either side of his head, Chuck quickly wrapped his arms around her just under her firm backside and sat up, flinging her over his shoulder. "Chuck!" she squealed as he stood up and carried her to the bathroom, her without a shirt and him without anything at all. "Put me down!"

"Nope," he said grinning, "I never got to finish my shower."

"Pretty nice view from here," she teased as her blonde hair fell around her face towards the floor, tickling the back of his thigh every other step. Sarah then proceeded to pinch his birthmark located on his left cheek.

"You love my ass."

"I do."

Chuck put her down on the bathroom tiles and Sarah unbuttoned her jeans. "Can't wait for you to say that at the altar," Chuck said as he was turning on the water. He had only turned away for a second and already Sarah was stripped down to only her panties. Chuck took the liberty of removing those and Sarah linked her fingers with his and pulled him into the shower.

"Trust me, Chuck," Sarah said sincerely, "I won't make you wait long."

Stealing a line from his _fiancée,_ he smiled and said, "I always trust you."

---

_Song: "Quit Your Life" - MxPx_

_Mystery red head was supposed to be Carina. I figured the baseball thing wouldn't be too far fetched because Chuck played baseball when he was a kid (Wookie & Dream Job). I googled "hot hybrid car" and came across the Karma, and that is definitely a sexy car. I've always been a Crossfire kind of girl but that could quickly change ;o) The "Casey said--" thing was implying Casey had told Chuck about Sarah's dream of having a family (Crown Vic)._


	4. Just A Boy

_I feel completely horrible about somehow forgetting to say this last time, but August 13__th__ was the day Les Paul died. For those of you who may not have known but could probably guess, Les Paul created the Les Paul guitar, arguably the most influential electric guitar in the history of music. So this story is dedicated to him._

_I realize last chapter was kind of a long shot in the reality of Sarah coming to that conclusion of Chuck's state of mind, so I completely re-did that section, putting a more in-depth look into what would cause Sarah to think that. So there is now a different version of that chapter up if you want to check it out. It's still a pretty big stretch but it's not _as_ out of the blue as before. Fiction, right? _

_This chapter's song is "Just A Boy" by Angus & Julia Stone, a brother/sister duo from Sydney, Australia that I highly recommend. If you want to look further into them I'd suggest "Mango Tree" and "Silver Coin" as follow-ups, but "Just A Boy" is my favorite by them. Unlike last time, Chuck will have written the song. _

_Enjoy!_

---

Sarah woke up to the sound of a vacuum. Not a good way to start off the day. Burying her face in her pillow, she made a noise somewhat resembling a mixture between a loud sigh and a groan. Sarah was not a morning person, as Chuck had found out via her murdering her alarm clock with a throwing knife.

"Chuuuck," she whined, not loud enough for him to hear her over the vacuum in the other room. Kicking her legs in frustration, Sarah yanked the covers off her and planted her feet on the floor. Lazily walking into the next room with only a tank top and a pair of Chuck's boxers on, she saw Chuck in his own boxers vacuuming and organizing things. Sarah leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms. "What are you doing," she asked agitatedly.

Chuck looked up from the floor. "Hey, you're up," he said, stating the obvious.

"That's usually what happens when someone turns on a vacuum machine while the other person is sleeping. What are you doing," she asked again.

Chuck switched off the vacuum and said, "I'm cleaning."

"Why are you cleaning," she said stubbornly.

"Uh, I don't know," he said sarcastically, "maybe it's because of the huge bump on the back of my head, or the bruise on my elbow, or maybe because I can barely turn my head to the left."

Sarah cracked a smile at the memory of the night before. The two of them had been feeling… zealous. To say the least. Basically with as little grace as possible they pulled each other towards the bedroom, smashing into things as their mouths collided. Chuck had the unfortunate position of having his back turned as Sarah guided him into the bedroom. Backing up, Chuck's heel slipped on something on the hardwood floor and he went falling onto his back, his elbow bracing some of the fall and his head hitting the floor with a sickening thud. Sarah had been pressed up against him tight, so she followed suit and came crashing down onto him as well, causing the air to rush out of him. Sarah's care giving instincts set in as she made sure he was okay and went grab him an icepack, but not without letting a tiny giggle slip.

"Well maybe if you just looked where you were going…"

Chuck laughed to himself. He knew that Sarah knew that this was a losing argument for her. Sarah walked over to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of orange juice. Chuck walked up to her and put something in her hand. She pursed her lips and stared at him. "Wasn't my underwear I slipped on," he said.

Sarah finished off the glass and said, "Well you're the one who threw them there."

Chuck paused to contemplate her comeback and said, "Fair enough. But we're still cleaning this place. It's a mess and there are boxes of random things we need to go through."

"I hate you."

"You love me. Now get your butt moving." Chuck grabbed her empty glass and put it in the dishwasher behind her since he got the feeling she wasn't going to.

Turning to face him Sarah pouted and said, "Do I at least get a good morning kiss? I missed waking up with you." Sarah pushed out her chest and widened her eyes in feigned innocence.

Chuck couldn't resist and stepped towards her for a quick kiss, only to find himself caught in a heated kiss with her not letting him go. Chuck began to get caught up in her and Sarah walked him over to their bedroom. Once she got him inside, she shut the door behind them. The door was then quickly opened as Chuck walked out shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no. I know what you're doing. Don't think you can seduce me until I forget about cleaning." Sarah collapsed backwards onto the bed with her arms over her head. Puffing her bangs out of her eyes, Sarah sat back up and watched him walk back into the room with a large cardboard box in his arms.

"What is _that_?" Sarah asked as he dropped it on the bed next to her.

"This, my love, is the beginning of your project for the day. We need to get rid of all this junk so you need to sort through everything. Decide what goes and what stays."

Sarah looked through the contents of the box and said, "But this is all your stuff!"

"Well, would you rather clean the entire place?" Chuck watched as his fiancée's face dropped.

Grabbing the box, Sarah said, "No thanks. I've cleaned my fair share of counters for you. Your turn now."

Chuck smiled widely. "You know you _could_ always dust off the old Weinerlicious uniform. I know you still have it."

"I'm saving that one for a rainy day," Sarah flirted. "Don't worry, I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve." Standing up and placing her hand in a very specific area, she whispered, "I could show you some now. That is… if you want me," pausing for dramatic affect, she then said, "to."

What she was doing was completely unfair. She was putting on moves that were used for complete strangers. It didn't help that he was in love with her. "Not gonna fall for that," Chuck said, removing her hand and mentally giving up his man card. "That's what caused this in the first place. Your advances, Agent Walker, are the reason I can only turn my head like Derek Zoolander."

"Who?"

"Der—Zoolander? You've never—Come on, "I can't turn left"? That—never mind." Chuck was appalled that the woman he was marrying had never seen _Zoolander_, but that was a problem for another day. "Do this and I'll find a way to make it up to you, alright?"

Sarah sighed and Chuck took it as a confirmation. He smiled and left her to go through the junk he had put on their bed. Sarah decided to make two piles, stuff that would stay and stuff that she would ask if it was okay to be thrown away. She smiled at some of the long lost memories she came across. She found Chuck's old Nerd Herd badge, chopsticks from the Bamboo Dragon, a small leather pouch, a keychain of a foam brain, and even an old Intellicell that had once supposedly belonged to her. She thought it was cute Chuck had held on to her fake business card. She paused when she came across an unframed photo. Four boys stood smiling wearing fraternity shirts, two grey, two dark blue. Dead center was Chuck with a big grin on his face as he had his arm around his best friend. It completely floored her how unknowing he was of everything back then. She felt like the Chuck in the picture and the Chuck in the next room were completely different people. She loved this Chuck, but she bet if she had known the old Chuck she would have loved him, too.

After an hour and a half she had gone through almost every box left. Only one box remained and in it she found a pair of charred black sunglasses, the handle to a pair of opera glasses, pink furry handcuffs—"_That could be fun,"_ she thought—and the last item, his old Buy More fleece jacket.

"Chuck, I finished!" She waited for him to walk in as he wiped his hands on a towel. "Go through all this stuff and pick out what you don't want thrown away," she said motioning to the pile of useless junk she had picked out.

Chuck smiled nostalgically and picked up the tiny leather drawstring pouch that Sarah had seen no need for. "You remember what this is?" Sarah shook her head. "This held the Nadan—" Chuck stopped talking when he saw the photo lying on top of his pillow. Sarah followed his eyes to the pillow and sighed. "I thought I lost this…" Chuck said as he reached out to grab it. He ran his thumb over Bryce's face and smiled sadly, wishing he could have spent more time with his friend after finding out what Bryce's real purpose for everything had been. Sarah had gotten rid of her Blackberry containing her and Bryce's Cabo pictures the same day she found out her position would be permanent in Burbank. She hadn't seen Bryce's face since Ring agents had dragged his lifeless body out of the Intersect room. Putting the photo down on the nightstand, Chuck looked back at the pile. "I think we can throw all this stuff away," he said.

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "You sure?"

Nodding, he said, "Yeah."

"Mind if I keep this?" Sarah held up his jacket, "It's really soft."

Chuck laughed and leaned down to kiss her head. "Whatever you want."

Slipping it on, Sarah wrapped her arms around herself and nestled into the warmth. She then stood up and said, "I'm going to go eat something. You have to get rid of this stuff. I am officially done for the day."

Chuck threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt before leaving. While Chuck was getting rid of all their old stuff, Sarah walked into the kitchen and stuffed her hands in her pockets and looked to see what she wanted. She was distracted, though, when she felt a folded up winkled paper in the left pocket. Pulling it out, she unfolded the paper and read what was on it. All of a sudden Sarah was very excited. She felt like she had just discovered buried treasure. In bold letters in Chuck's handwriting he had written "Just A Boy." Sarah knew what it was but she controlled herself enough to stop reading after the first line. She wanted to hear it from him.

Walking through the door, Chuck closed it behind him and saw his fiancée standing there waiting for him with a piece of loose leaf paper in her hand and a mischievous smile.

"Uh oh," he said, "what are you up to?"

"I found something," she sang as she turned and walked into the bedroom. She soon came out holding his guitar and walked it over to him.

"What is this for?"

"You're playing me a song," she explained as if it was common knowledge.

Chuck laughed and took the guitar from her by the neck. "Okay, but this is how I'm repaying you for helping me clean. Any particular song in mind?"

Sarah walked up to him and pushed the folded paper up against his chest. Chuck put his hand over it and she slid hers away. "Let's go, Chuck." She was already walking over to the love seat by their TV. Sitting down, she patted the space next to her and waited for him to come over. Chuck looked at what was on the paper as he walked over and Sarah saw a smile slowly creep on his face.

"Where'd you find this?" Chuck sat down next to her and put his arm around her.

"In _my_ new jacket."

"Have you read it?" Sarah shook her head. "This is from a long time ago, Sarah, are you sure you want to hear it?" Sarah's look told him all he needed to know. "Alright, well let me try and remember how this goes. I don't think I ever actually added the guitar part so… bear with me."

Sarah watched as Chuck worked out the chords to play and the tempo of the song. This was the first time she'd actually see the process he went through. It only took him around three minutes to figure everything out.

"Okay," he said.

"You're ready?" she asked him.

"Yeah." Sarah raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Alright," he sighed, "here goes nothing." Chuck started playing but stopped abruptly. "This was before we got together, okay, so just don't, you know… think so much about it. I mean it's not… I don't feel like, um…"

Sarah put her fingers over his lips and said, "Babe, just play the song."

"Right." Chuck cleared his throat and started playing for real this time.

"I bit my tongue in the awkward conversation  
I don't know why  
I don't know why  
I met you once and I'd fallen for your notions  
I don't know why  
I don't know why"

Sarah laughed at the memory of their first meeting. Few things had taken her that off guard during a mission. There she was in the Buy More dressed for seduction with her target being the man holding all the government's stolen secrets, and Chuck was rapping the name of a comic book character in the middle of the Nerd Herd station. And then he had blown her off to go help out a little girl in need. It was the sweetest thing she'd seen in a long time.

"Do you believe that there's treasures in the ocean?  
Did I say I'm just a boy?  
One kiss from you  
And I'm drunk up on your potion  
That big old smile is all you wore"

The memory of their first kiss wasn't as happy. Well, the kiss itself was spectacular, but the aftermath could have gone a better way. Sarah had told him what happened was a mistake. If she could take back one thing she had said to him that would probably be in the top three. And she had said some pretty stupid things to him. But of course, Chuck being Chuck, he chose to only remember the good.

"Girl you make me want to feel  
Things I've never felt before  
Girl you make me want to feel  
Did I say I'm just a boy?  
Did I say I'm just a boy?  
You can hold me to that"

Sarah was happy Chuck had stayed himself throughout this rollercoaster ride. He'd seen more dead bodies than most people and yet he still chose to believe they were just sleeping. He'd been betrayed on numerous occasions, and survived trust-issue free with that smile that could light up the world. Sarah had told him one Thanksgiving to not get used to this world, and as always he kept that promise.

"No lonely hands grab my suitcase full of nothing  
I don't know why  
I don't know why  
You took me in  
Gave me something to believe in  
That big old smile is all you wore"

Sarah kept him from being thrown into an underground bunker more times than he could count. No matter what happened he knew he could always count on her. He couldn't think of anyone that would actually commit treason in order to help him. When Chuck couldn't take being the Intersect she was the first person to offer support. It was Sarah who had gone and found him at the beach the first night. When Longshore was about to hand off Chuck, Sarah was the one who stopped it and then spent the night looking for a ring through a dumpster for him. When Beckman told Chuck he would stay the Intersect, Sarah came and let him know she was on his side. After getting caught by his sister while putting Awesome's key card back, Chuck immediately went to go confide in Sarah. Without Sarah, Chuck doubted he would still be alive to sing this song.

"Girl you make me want to feel  
Things I've never felt before  
Girl you make me want to feel  
Did I say I'm just a boy?  
Did I say I'm just a boy?  
You can hold me to that"

He must have written this when he thought he didn't have a shot in hell to be with her. He had always thought she was too good for him. Too pretty, too smart, too adventurous. But Chuck was never "just a boy" to her. She wouldn't have felt the urge to leave everything she knew behind to be with "just a boy." She wasn't planning on marrying "just a boy." She hoped he knew that.

"Girl you make me want to feel  
Things I've never felt before  
Girl you make me want to feel  
Did I say I'm just a boy?  
Did I say I'm just a boy?"

Chuck gave one final strum across all six strings and with that the song was over.

Sarah reached out and played with his curls. "Sweetie, that was great. Why is this the first time I'm hearing it?"

Chuck put his guitar on the floor and smiled at her. "I told you I hadn't even picked up my guitar until that day you found me at the park. I got it down on paper but it never really came to life. Besides," he said, "it's not like I would have played it for you anyways."

Sarah smacked him on the head. "Why!"

"Ahh!" Chuck put his hand on the bump on his head. "Gentle."

"Sorry!" Sarah frantically made sure he was okay. "I'm so, so sorry, are you okay?"

Chuck gently brought her hands away from his head. "Calm down, I'm fine. Just a little sore, that's all."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "But why wouldn't you have played it for me?"

Chuck sighed and looked around. "I guess I just… didn't want to get in any deeper than I already was. You had made it very clear that we were a no go. Anything else I did would have just made it hurt even worse when you rejected me."

Sarah's mouth opened and she fumbled with her words. "Chuck I—I'm sorry that you thought—"

"Hey," Chuck took her face in his hands. "It was a long time ago. We've moved on. Don't dwell on the past, alright?"

She smiled sympathetically. "How is it that I'm the one who hurt you repeatedly and yet _you're_ the one doing the comforting?"

Smiling, he said, "Because we have the most unconventional relationship in the world and you also used to suck at relationships."

"Used to?"

"You're improving at a fast rate."

Sarah slid into his lap and clasped her fingers behind his neck. "What can I do to improve even more?"

Chuck rested his hands firmly on her waist and said, "I'm sure you'll figure something out."

That was Sarah's cue to pull her hands in, causing his neck to as well as she softly kissed him. It only lasted about five seconds though. When Chuck tried to deepen the kiss, he stopped and painfully groaned.

"Your head again?" she asked him after pulling back.

"Neck," he told her as he sat stiff.

"Oh," she said lightly, "I can fix that." Removing herself from his lap, she stood up and held his hand as they walked to their bed. Sitting up against the headboard, Sarah spread out her legs and motioned for him to sit between them. Complying, Chuck leaned back into her and she put her hands on the base of his neck. "Comfy?"

Chuck gave her an affirmative and Sarah began putting pressure on the spots where it hurt. She started off slow, knowing full well his pain tolerance level. Sarah wrapped her calves around his abdomen as he sat there and he rested his hands on her legs, lightly running his thumbs back and forth. As Sarah massaged his neck she couldn't take her mind off his song.

"You know, you were never just a boy to me, Chuck," she whispered. "I had never met anyone like you before. I _still_ haven't met anyone like you." Chuck didn't say anything even though she was waiting for him to. "I just thought you should know." The tightening of his grip was the only indication that he had heard her. Sarah kept massaging his neck for the next five minutes, but after nothing was said Sarah pressed significantly harder onto his neck muscles, causing him to let out a pathetic whimper.

"Ow."

Sarah dropped her hands. "Come on, Chuck. One of the rare occasions I actually talk and you can't say anything?"

Chuck shrugged, which was not pain free. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't... _know_, just—_something._" Sarah shoved his back. "You're the talkative one."

"You're very good at neck massages," he said.

Sarah drove her heel into his gut. "That's not what I mean and you know it."

Chuck leaned back until her chest was against his back and his head was right next to hers pressed against her cheek. Sarah placed her chin on the part where his neck meets his shoulder. "I love you," he said.

"Better," she responded.

"And you were never just a girl to me." Chuck felt the dimple on her cheek form against the side of his face. "You were Sarah Walker, super sexy super spy that could probably kill me just with her mind." Chuck smiled at the sound of his favorite noise when Sarah laughed.

"I'm still all those things," she teased him. "…But I won't kill you with my mind."

Chuck turned his head _to the left_ and kissed her cheek. "And that's why I'm marrying you."

Sarah turned her head to look at him and said, "You sure it's not just because of my amazing massage skills?"

Chuck kissed her on the lips. "That helps, too."

Sarah wrapped her arms around his chest and breathed in deep, just enjoying the feeling of him being there. It had been a few days since they'd had a day to themselves. Missions and family gatherings had put a hold on their alone time. That's why last night they had been so eager to make up for lost time. _"That ended well,"_ she thought bitterly.

"When did you write it?"

"Hm?" Chuck ran his fingers over her delicate wrist. "When did I write the song?" Sarah nodded, nudging her chin into his shoulder. Chuck closed his eyes as he tried to remember that far back. "I don't think there was one specific moment. I wrote it over a long period of time."

"Well, I think it was sweet," she declared softly.

"That's good because I wrote it about you," he joked.

Sarah smiled and said, "You better have or you'll be sleeping on the couch for the next year. At least."

"You don't ever have to worry about that," Chuck promised her.

"What's it like outside?" she asked him, changing the subject.

"It's nice," he said. "Why? You want to go out?" Sarah nodded, prompting him to break her hold and sit up. "Alright get dressed and we'll go out. Nothing fancy, though. I've had enough expensive rich people… _things_ for one week. Plus I always seem to flash when we go somewhere nice."

"Deal," she said. "You're not the only one sick of those people. Just let me throw something on and we can go for a walk or something, I don't care."

"Sounds good." Chuck got up and walked out of the room, giving her time to get ready.

Ten minutes later Sarah came out in a pair of jeans, a white tank top, and a black jacket with her hair in a ponytail.

A huge grin spread across his face. "You look beautiful."

"Chuck, if I always look beautiful, and there is no un-beautiful, then beautiful by definition is just mediocre," Sarah said as she tried to find her purse.

Chuck spotted it next to him and walked up behind her holding it out. "Well, then you look exquisite, stunning, and practically divine."

Sarah turned to grab the purse from his outstretched hand and with a flattered smile fighting to stay hidden on her face said, "Let's go."

Chuck placed his hand on the small of her back as he guided her into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. They walked outside, giving a nod to Andy on the way, and continued walking hand in hand.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know."

Eventually they neared a PinkBerry and Sarah dragged him in.

"I thought you never wanted to go to a frozen yogurt place again," Chuck said, referring to her old cover job as the Orange Orange temptress from across the parking lot.

"I never want to _serve_ frozen yogurt again. I think I might like someone else serving me for a change."

When Sarah walked in all eyes were on her, as was the reaction anyplace they went. They both got raspberry and before they left Sarah tipped the girl generously. They then went back outside to continue their walk.

"So what would you have done?" Chuck said, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

"What would I have done when?"

Chuck watched her eat another spoonful before saying, "If I had played you the song, you know, when I first wrote it."

Sarah stopped herself for putting anymore into her mouth and contemplated what her answer would be. What would she have done if Chuck played it to her back then? She had no idea. Most of the things she did around him made absolutely no sense whatsoever and were split second decisions. There was no way she could accurately predict what would have happened. And of course it wouldn't have been a neutral response. It was never a neutral response. No matter which way she had gone she had always gone _all_ the way. As in completely shutting him down, or kissing him and letting out all her pent up frustrations only to then let him down in the end. Poor Chuck.

"I don't know what I would have done," she told him. "I think it's good you waited until now. I would have been too confused."

Chuck nodded slowly. "So in other words you would have turned me down."

"As much as I hate myself for it, yeah I probably would have." Sarah stared as the ground shamefully. "But that doesn't mean I wouldn't have liked it. I would have loved it. I loved everything you did. But I just… couldn't let you in. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he said, "I understand." Chuck threw his empty cup into a trashcan they walked by and Sarah threw hers away even though she wasn't done. She then tightly held onto his hand, which was a little cold after holding the frozen yogurt. "Let's head back," he said. The two of them turned around and walked back towards their building, the whole time with their fingers entwined.

"So you got a question," Sarah said. "Can I have one?"

"I don't see why not," he said as he kicked a rock lying in front of him.

"There was one lyric in the song…" she hinted.

"…Yeah?" Chuck looked at her and saw the little crease form just off to the side from between her eyebrows.

"The one with the 'treasure' thing," she said.

Chuck smiled. "'Do you believe that there's treasures in the ocean'? That one?"

"Yeah. I was just wondering," Sarah shrugged, "like, what that meant."

"What do you mean?"

Sarah smiled, "I mean, what do you mean 'do you believe there's treasures in the ocean'?"

"It's a metaphor." Sarah waited for him to delve further into it but he never did.

"For…?"

Chuck smiled mischievously. "Ahh _that_ you'll have to figure out on your own."

Sarah gasped and punched his shoulder. "Jerk."

"I can't be giving away all my secrets," he taunted. "And I do have a lot of them, as you are well aware."

"Yes, secrets that you have _told_ me," she pressed on. "So tell me."

"I have enough faith in you that you'll figure it out." Sarah raised her eyebrow at his withdrawal.

--

When they got back to their top story condo Sarah threw her jacket on the floor and kicked off her shoes.

"You're kidding, right?" Chuck stared at the discarded accessories currently residing on the hardwood floor.

"What?" she asked him completely oblivious.

Chuck walked over and picked up her jacket. "I just spent the whole day cleaning up this place and the first thing you do when we get back is throw your stuff on the floor?"

Sarah kicked over her shoes to a corner in the room, sliding them across the floor. "Old habits die hard, sweetie." She watched as Chuck headed to the bedroom and then a light switched on in her head. "Wait!"

"What?" he asked as he stopped and looked at her.

Sarah slowly stepped towards the door. "Um. That's a good question. You… _You," _Sarah pointed her index finger at him, "forgot to… change your…" Sarah was grasping at straws here. "…feet."

Chuck stared at her incredulously. "Change my feet?"

"What?" she asked him.

"Did you just tell me to change my feet?"

Sarah's eyes moved to look to the wall to the right of her and she shook her head slowly. "Nope."

Chuck tweaked his head to the side. "So… you _didn't_ tell me to change my feet."

Sarah shook her head again. "No."

Chuck had absolutely no idea what was going on with her. "Okay…" He turned to walk back into the bedroom.

"Wait!" she yelled again putting her hands out. "Wait."

Chuck stopped again and looked at her like she had three heads. "What now? Did I forget to change my hands, too?"

Sarah laughed forcefully. "Has anyone ever told you you are hilarious? In fact," Sarah ran around behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him to the living room, "you should… watch tv."

Chuck refused to budge. He laughed at her and said, "Sarah, what the hell are you talking about?" Suddenly a thought popped to his head. "Why don't you want me to go to the bedroom?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, brushing off his accusation.

Chuck started walking towards their room. This time when Sarah told him to wait he didn't listen and opened the door.

Sarah frantically followed him. "Okay, I know you're going to be mad but—"

Looking inside, Chuck's jaw dropped. It looked like an earthquake and a hurricane had a child and that child destroyed their room. Clothes were everywhere, Sarah's make up was rolling all over the floor, and empty drawers were open and hanging crookedly. Absolutely nothing was in place and Chuck had no idea how someone could do all that. Stuttering, Chuck finally spit out, "You were in there for ten minutes!"

"…I couldn't find my purse," she weakly explained from behind him.

Chuck's hand met his open mouth as he stood there taking in the disaster that was their room. "I don't know whether to be furious or impressed," he whispered through his fingers to no one in particular.

A worried Sarah stepped up next to him. "Would it help if I told you I love you?" Chuck's forehead wrinkled as he still hadn't said anything else. "Oh god, you hate me," she said, turning and walking quickly to their couch. After a couple more seconds, Chuck snapped himself out of his comatose state and quickly followed her. Sarah's hands covered her face in embarrassment as she continued to hate herself for being an idiot. Chuck sat down next to her and rubbed her back in a circular motion.

"I don't hate you," he told her.

"Why," she mumbled, "I do."

Chuck laughed silently. She was cute when she felt like she had messed up. After living alone in the spy world, she wasn't used to the real world and what came with it. In the spy world, she was flawless. In the real world there was a lot of room for improvement as she found out time and time again. It was kind of like trying to train a puppy. "Don't say that," he said trying to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Chuck," she said. "I promise I'll try harder."

"That's all I can ask for." Chuck's heart broke at how pathetic she looked and he drew her in to his side. Sarah rested her head against his chest.

Sarah laughed humorlessly and said, "So much for improving at a fast rate, huh?"

"Don't worry about that." Chuck kissed the top of her head. "Organized or no, I'll love you either way." He rubbed her arm as she leaned against him. They sat there with each other for a good fifteen minutes. Sarah's ear was pressed to his heart and she listened to every single heartbeat. She went over in her mind all the things she loved about him. Number one being that he loved her just as much.

"Hey, Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm the treasure."

Chuck smiled brightly. "Yeah, Sarah. You are."

---

_Lots of references in this one while Sarah was going through their old stuff. I'm sure you could recognize some of them. I admit after double-checking, Chuck would not be in possession of the leather pouch (god I hate that word) for the Nadan'I'Noor because he Fedex-ed it to Washington. But __– once again – fiction, right? I couldn't resist giving a shout-out to one of my favorite scenes from the entire series, Ellie reacting to the truth serum. "Words taste like peaches."_

_Thanks for all your reviews, guys. Reviewers have now officially been upgraded from outstanding to awesome._

_Extra question: What instrument do you think Awesome would play? _


	5. Untitled

_Miss me? Me neither. Today's song has no name. Crazy, right? It's by Angus and Julia Stone again because I love them and they're so sweet. This song can __*only* be found on YouTube. So to find it search "__**Angus Julia Stone Wedding Song Basement Live**__." Unlike in "Just A Boy," Julia sings the song instead of Angus so just pretend it's Chuck singing (as a man). This time I decided to not put any text between versus. This is the kind of song you lose yourself in completely, so instead of skipping over the lyrics which we've probably all done at one point, try listening to the song as you read them. Pretty much everything you'll feel while listening will be everything Sarah's feeling._

_Shout-outs to __**truthseeker**__, __**NickyR**__, __**jagged1**__, __**Joe 262**__, and __**Bianquinha**__, who have reviewed every chapter so far. And of course thanks to everyone who has reviewed/read/liked/added this story._

---

Chuck was writing a song. She just knew it. He was doing that annoying thing where he'd go off randomly, leaving Sarah to go into their room and see that low and behold: no guitar. She wasn't sure what exactly bothered her about it, but there was some feeling that she just didn't like. Maybe it was the secretiveness of it all. Chuck rarely, if ever, hid things from her and when he wouldn't share what he was doing she felt like reality had just given her a hard slap to the face. _'No, you idiot, you aren't an exception.' _She just felt less special, which was a dumb thing to think considering she had never even known what being special felt like until she met Chuck. She often found solace in the fact that it never took him more than a few days to finish and then she would ask, sometimes he would volunteer, for him to play the song for her and everything would go back to normal.

Sarah talked to Ellie about it on several occasions and always felt better after. It was nice knowing there was someone else in the world that had experience with dealing with her fiancé's quirks. Sarah was actually headed over there now to meet up with Ellie. While Sarah had lived her whole life doing things on her own, she had grown to realize it was okay to rely on people sometimes.

Knocking on the door, Sarah heard footsteps nearing and was soon greeted by the face of the brunette doctor as the door swung open.

"Hey, Ellie," she said with a bright smile.

Ellie smiled equally and said, "Sarah! Come in." Sarah followed her in and closed the door behind her. "No Chuck today?" Ellie was in the kitchen opening a bottle of wine as Sarah walked over and sat on the couch. Ellie brought over two wine glasses and set them down on the table before sitting next to Sarah.

As Ellie filled the glasses, Sarah shook her head and sighed, "It's that time again."

Ellie took her eyes from the wine and looked at Sarah knowing full well what she was referring to. "Come on, it can't be that bad. What girl doesn't want to be with a musician? Let alone a _smart_ musician." Ellie raised her eyes and stared at her to accent her point, looking eerily like her husband when he had one of his "awesome" ideas.

"You don't have to keep selling me on your brother, Elle. I'm marrying him, aren't I?" Sarah picked up the glass and took a sip and Ellie tucked her knees under her on the couch.

"I know, I know," she said. "And pretty soon, might I add. What is it? Next month?" Ellie looked away and brought the rim of the glass to her lips.

Sarah laughed. "Oh don't _even!_ _I_ know," Sarah pointed at her chest, "that _you_ know," she pointed at Ellie, "that it's in three days. And I _also_ know you're practically bouncing off the walls when Chuck and I aren't around."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, pretending to be shocked at the accusation.

"Please," Sarah scoffed. "Awe—Devon practically _begged_ me to move up the date so he could have his "mildly" sane wife back. I know more than you think."

Nodding, Ellie said, "Yeah, for some reason nothing gets by you. It's like you're in the freaking CIA."

Sarah choked on her wine and started coughing forcefully as her face became redder by the second. Ellie quickly put hers down and went to check on her soon to be sister-in-law. Sarah's throat finally cleared up once again and her normal complexion slowly came back.

"Jesus," Ellie said. "What caused that?"

Sarah's face suddenly got very serious as she set down her wineglass on the table and turned to face the sister of her fiancé. "Ellie, there's something I need to tell you." She paused for a long while and Ellie's neck craned inwards continuously as she waited for her to finish. Sarah mentally prepared herself for this. She wasn't sure if she should have Chuck with her when she did this but Ellie was going to be her family and Sarah wanted a family with no secrets, no lies. CIA be damned. Ellie was practically her sister and the only woman in the world she actually trusted. Must be something about Bartowskis. Sarah had been thinking a lot about doing this lately and she figured what the hell. Why not now? Taking a deep breath, Sarah said slowly, "I _am_ in the CIA."

Ellie looked at her blankly before she burst out laughing. Sarah sat there watching for another twenty seconds. "Okay, Sare, you had me just then. Good one, that was actually funny," she said between laughs.

"Ellie, I'm not kidding," she insisted. "I'm a CIA agent. Sarah Walker isn't even my real name!" This caused more laughter from the older of the two.

"Where did you even come up with this stuff? And since when are you funny?" Ellie continued to laugh and Sarah slowly came to the realization this was not going her way. Sarah gradually eased into laughing along with her.

"Haha, yeah… I don't know. I guess I've been around Chuck for so long it finally rubbed off on me..."

"…Wow, thirsty much?" Ellie said after watching Sarah down the rest of the contents of her wineglass in one gulp. Sarah didn't answer, still too in shock of what had just occurred. Maybe it was for the best. "Listen, Chuck means well. And when he's writing random songs he always tells you about them, right?" Sarah's big blue eyes looked at her as she innocently nodded. "And every time you get upset when he leaves, he always ends up playing _you_ a song. _For you._ And then the next time I see you you're practically glowing and can't shut up about it. Why do you keep torturing yourself like this?"

Sarah groaned and threw her head back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. "I just _miss_ him." Ellie didn't say anything and so Sarah rolled her head to the side and saw Ellie's face looking as if she had just seen a dachshund puppy trip on its own ears. Sarah lifted her head up. "What?"

Ellie pursed her lips together before squealing, "You're just so cute!" Sarah looked at her disgustedly. "Seriously, what's the longest period of time Chuck's spent writing a song and distancing himself?" Sarah began speaking but Ellie cut her off. "Don't even answer that, I already know. Three days, Sarah. _Three! _Devon goes on camping trips for a whole _week_."

Sarah sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "It's just… I just don't want him… shutting off! I mean, when we have kids is he just going to leave me for three days to take care of everything while he goes off and "writes a song"? I can't handle that!"

"Sarah!" Ellie snapped her fingers in front of her face. With her palms facing the floor, Ellie held them out and said, "Calm. Down. Honestly you are the biggest drama queen about this stuff."

"That's because I suck at it! "Sarah, say your feelings," "Sarah, don't throw your clothes around the apartment," "Sarah, what are you thinking about." Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! I'm going insane because I'm horrible at all this stuff! I do everything wrong," she exaggerated.

Ellie now had a worried expression with a hint of anger. "Does Chuck tell you that? Say yes and I'll go find him and kick his ass."

Sarah threw her hands in the air. "No! He thinks everything I do is perfect. But I'm _not_ perfect. I'm the opposite of perfect. I'm… I'm…"

"Imperfect?" Ellie said completing Sarah's thought.

Sarah snapped her fingers and pointed at her, now really worked up. "Why does he think that? It's not fair."

"In what way is that not fair to you?" Ellie thought Sarah was describing the ideal man, which was awkward because he's her brother. She had always admired their relationship, often telling Devon to be more like them.

Sarah calmed down and somewhat pathetically said, "Because every time he leaves I can't help but think he finally realized how imperfect I am."

"Oh, Sarah," Ellie cooed, making Sarah feel even dumber. "Chuck's just writing you a song. Don't think so much about it just keep living your life."

"I know," she sighed. "It's just hard to keep "living my life" when Chuck _is_ my life."

Just then the door swung open and Devon walked in with his bike shorts on and carrying his bike. His headphones were still in, prompting him to be even louder than usual, which was practically yelling. "Girl time! Awesome! Don't mind me, ladies!"

Ellie rolled her eyes at his spandex shorts and motioned towards him with her hand as he walked through the apartment. "See what _I_ have to deal with? I'd much rather Devon was doing something for me rather than every other woman whose eyes wander south."

Sarah laughed sympathetically just as her phone went off. She looked down to see a text from Chuck that said, _"Dinner? It's important."_

"_Fantastic," _she said to herself sardonically. Looking up at Ellie, she said, "That was Chuck. You'd think the guys planned their timing or something."

"Wouldn't put it past them."

Sarah grabbed her jacket next to her and started putting it on. "I've got to go now. Talk to you later?"

"Sounds good," Ellie responded.

"Hey, babe, where's my protein shake?" Devon boomed from the kitchen ten. feet. away.

Ignoring him, Ellie said to Sarah, "Call me and tell me what happens. I've got to go take care of that one."

Sarah gave her a quick hug before letting herself out as she heard Ellie say, "I didn't touch your disgusting—" She was cut off by Sarah closing the door.

Throughout the drive home Sarah thought of what she should say to him, if anything. She had gotten better at knowing when she should speak up, but that knowledge didn't make her hate doing it any less.

Walking into their condo Sarah was immediately met with the smell of… something. Chuck came out from behind the corner as he was pulling off oven mitts.

"Hey. You get my text?" He threw the gloves onto the table and walked over, giving her a longer-than-usual kiss on the lips.

Opening her eyes after the contact, she said, "…Yeah. Is everything okay?"

Chuck smiled that crooked smile he got whenever he was confused. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Well your text said it was important…" Sarah looked around. "Are you cooking?"

"Yes ma'm. Your favorite." Sarah couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. She doesn't know why she gets so happy. That and Hamburger Helper is about all he knows how to make. He learned it only for the sole purpose of being able to cook it for her. Sarah saw that the table they usually ate at was empty.

"You want me to set the table?" She was already walking to the silverware drawer when he stopped her.

"No no. It's all taken care of." He went over to stand behind her and placed his hands on her hips, turning her towards their balcony, where she then saw the romantic dinner he had planned. He kept his hands where they were as he walked her over to the small candle-lit table outside.

Chuck pulled the chair out for her and pushed it in once she sat down. "What's the occasion, Romeo?"

"I know I've been a little MIA the past few days so I wanted to make it up to you. Just me and you tonight, okay?" His smile was infectious.

"That's sweet, Chuck, but you really didn't have to."

"Of course I did," he said. "Now do as you're told and sit back and enjoy. I'll be right back." Chuck went to go check on dinner, leaving Sarah to revel in that fact that he had come through for her yet again.

"I love this man," she sighed to herself as she stared out at the view. Nighttime Los Angeles was never tough to look at. A familiar thought in the back of her brain started moving front and center the longer she sat there. He must have finished writing the song, meaning he'll play it for her. The end result was always her favorite part of the process. Sarah grew more and more excited the more she thought about it and was absolutely positive that when Chuck came out he'd have his Les Paul in hand. It would just be so _Chuck_.

But when Chuck came back outside the only thing in his hands were dinner and a bottle of wine. Sarah figured he was probably waiting until after they ate. She got nervous seeing the wine knowing she had just been at Ellie's. She tended to get a little emotional when she drank too much. Chuck noticed the visible drop in morale and quickly placed them on the small table and sat down.

"What's wrong?"

Sarah soon realized what she must have looked like at that moment and following a closed-mouth smile with raised eyebrows to match said, "Nothing! I just feel bad you had to do all this for me." That was a lie. Forget armed thugs, nuclear bombs, torture, even. They all paled in comparison to her fear and just plain hatred of things not going as planned. Routines are what had kept her sane and right now Chuck was breaking one she held very close to her heart. And to think, she was in love with him before she even knew he could play the guitar. Sarah told herself that's all it was. Chuck was going off book. She found his spontaneity to be a huge turn-on _most_ occasions. This, however, was not one of those occasions. This was all she had to look forward to whenever he'd go all Mystery Man on her.

"_He's probably just saving it until later,"_ she decided.

"I apologize for the lack of rose petals, if that's it," he said half-jokingly. "That whole seduction phase kind of ruined that for me."

Sarah was looking down, but smiled when she heard him and looked back up at him. "I think that might be a little too conventional for a couple like us."

Chuck smiled back at her. "Probably."

--

After dinner, Chuck got up to clear the table and then came back with dessert, which just so happened to be the most conventional romantic dessert of all time: Chocolate covered strawberries. Despite her previous statement, Sarah's eyes lit up. It wasn't clear if the strawberries or Chuck himself caused that. He told himself it was probably a combination of both. Instead of sitting back down at the table, Chuck walked past it, grabbing her hand in the process and pulled her over to their reclining chair that Sarah may or may not have stolen from poolside (that still remained a mystery to him). The back was set to a little less than 45 degrees and Chuck sat down first. He waited for Sarah to sit against him before leaning them both back together. Sarah held his hand in hers as she brought it around her, his thumb ending up barely pressed against the underside of her left breast. Sarah stretched and contracted her fingers slowly over his knuckles as they stared up at the sky. Due to being in the city the stars were scarce, but it didn't take away from how good it felt to be pressed up against him.

Chuck held the gourmet fruit in front of her mouth, which she happily bit into. He then brought it to his own mouth and finished it off. Seeing as it was her turn, Sarah grabbed a strawberry and without turning, held it up to the general area of where his lips were. She heard the chocolate shell break and felt a tug as Chuck mimicked her previous actions. Juice dripped down her thumb and to the small of her wrist, leaving a pink trail going all the way to the tiny freckle located just off to the side of her inner wrist. Before it could go any further, Chuck caught it in his lips and followed the trail all the way back up, sweeping his tongue over and gently sucking on her sweet porcelain skin in the process. Sarah closed her eyes at the touch and her forehead creased slightly in a pleading kind of way.

To put it simply, Chuck was the devil. Sarah had absolutely no idea whatsoever how he knew to do that. For some reason unknown to her, or anyone else for that matter, Sarah had especially sensitive wrists. She never told him this, fully aware of his aversion to anything blood related, but she soon found out that he loved every micrometer of her body, be it veins or the thumping of her heart when he tells her he loves her. It wasn't even her body, though that did help. Mostly it was just _her_. Just Sarah Walker that he loved, including everything that fell under that title_._ She remembered Bryce having a great sense of pride in his sexual competency. But he had always seen it as a big picture, never looking into the details. Chuck, however, paid attention to every gasp, flutter, and whimper made by her and mentally took note of everything he could possibly learn.

"Why do you know me so well?" she asked him, her voice doing that raspy whisper thing that always happened when she didn't want anyone else to hear. They were the only people on that entire floor, but still, it kept the moment intimate.

Without missing a beat and as if it was the simplest thing in the world, Chuck said, "Because I love you." Sarah pulled his hand up over her chest and set it down over her heart.

"Can I hear the song now?" Sarah turned her head back diagonally, half sitting up so she could look at him. By the look of his smile she could already tell she wouldn't like the answer to the question that's been nagging her the past few days, not to mention all through dinner.

The sad smile coupled with him reaching to tuck her hair behind her ear despite it already being there was followed by, "Not yet."

"_Not yet? What the hell does that mean?"_ Today marks the third day of his songwriting and if she waited any longer she could finally shove in Ellie's face, "Not three days! _Four_ days!" But Sarah really didn't want or need another reason to be upset. The ever-tightening knot in her stomach was doing just fine on its own.

"…What?" Contrary to her asking the question, she heard him the first time perfectly. Why she would like to relive the feeling once more was just a twisted subconscious self-punishment for nothing at all. "I mean you finished it, didn't you?" Sarah was now turned around and could easily look into his unwavering brown eyes.

Chuck nodded and began to find it hard looking into those permanent mood rings often referred to as her beautiful could-stare-into-them-forever cobalt eyes. His mood ring theory came through yet again as he saw the disappointment paired with impatience. She was doing that thing where she looks back and forth from both his eyes, as if even though one eye might not tell her anything, the other might have a clue. …No dice.

"It's finished… it's just that now isn't the right time." His softly stroking her left cheek with his right hand somewhat helped in comforting her.

Sarah pouted and Chuck couldn't tell if she was playing or not. He didn't have much time to check before she had her face pressed into his shoulder. Chuck knew that this wasn't a Sarah-needs-to-be-held situation, but more of a Sarah's-completely-lost-about-how-she-should-feel-and-that's-frustrating-for-her situation. Chuck squeezed her tight and she mumbled, "When is it the right time?"

"Very soon," he said. Sarah could tell he was smiling when he said that.

Sarah lifted her head and with her hands on his pectorals leaned in to kiss him. He tasted like strawberries. Pulling back only enough so that her lips still brushed his, she said, "Promise?"

"Promise."

Sarah leaned her head onto his chest and continued to look out over the balcony. "Thank you for tonight."

Chuck rubbed her arm gently and instead of warming her up like he had planned, the touch only gave her goosebumps. "I think I should be the one doing the thanking."

"Why's that?" By now Sarah's voice had become near inaudible.

He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her even more. "I just got to spend a romantic night with the most beautiful woman in the world and she even forgave me for being an asshole. I'd say I hit the jackpot."

The corners of Sarah's mouth started lifting, forming a barely visible smile. "Night's not over, Chuck…" Sarah then sat up. Standing, she said, "And who says I've forgiven you?" Sarah walked around him and dragged her hand across his chest as she did. Running her hands all the way down his chest, she whispered in to his ear, "You've been a naughty, _naughty_ boy…"

--

The next morning, Chuck was woken up by the sound of his phone going off. Removing himself from the spooning position he was in with his very naked fiancée, Chuck answered on the fourth ring.

"Hey, Ellie," he mumbled into the receiver.

"_Chuck, did you talk to Sarah last night?"_

"And good morning to you, too," he deadpanned. "I did in fact talk to Sarah last night. Kind of hard not to when we live together."

"_Not like that. Sarah—Wait. Is she there right now?"_

"Yeah, she's sleeping next to me. Why, do you want to talk to her? Because if you do, I would suggest not calling in the morning. You might not like what you see. Or in this case hear."

"_No, I don't want to talk to Sarah, I want to talk to you. But she's there so could you come over?"_

Chuck didn't know why his sister was calling at nine in the morning telling him drive to Echo so she could talk to him without Sarah being there. It sounded a little sketchy. But unable to say no to his big sister, he sighed and said, "Alright I'll come over but not right now, okay?"

"_Okay, see you later,"_ he heard her say.

Chuck said a quick goodbye as he was ending the call. Not a hundred percent polite but she had interrupted his morning Sarah time. Placing the phone on the nightstand, he rolled onto his side to go back to his previous position of being wrapped around the secret agent. He wrapped his arms around her smooth, flat stomach and pulled her into him. Chuck found it funny that the agent, who was usually so resistant to other people, happened to be the best snuggling partner in the world. She smelled nice, too.

"What was that about?" Chuck was startled to hear her speak since he thought she was still asleep. Sarah rolled over to face him and said, "I only heard the last part."

"What are you doing up?" he asked her.

Sarah shrugged. "All of a sudden I was cold. I think it's because my boyfriend moved so he could talk on the phone."

"Fiancé," he corrected. "Sorry about waking you. That was Ellie. I need to go over there," he answered.

"Anything wrong?" She still had her face pressed against the pillow looking at him doing the same on his own pillow.

Chuck placed his hand on her hip and stroked his thumb over it. "I'm not sure. I don't think there's any emergency; she just said she wanted to talk. Probably that threatening speech from the bride's best friend to the groom about taking care of her," he joked.

Sarah smiled. "Well in that case, make sure you take good notes."

"Will do," he told her. "You want breakfast?"

Sarah shook her head a little. "I'm not that hungry."

"Makes sense…" Chuck had a shit-eating grin on his face as he sat up and pulled the covers off him. "…You _did_ swallow a lot last night."

Sarah's eyes widened to saucers at the same time her jaw dropped. Chuck was already halfway out of bed and managed to dodge the forceful slap aimed at his head. However he didn't anticipate the hard kick to his thigh as he walked away.

"You're going to pay for that," she called out as he limped away into the kitchen.

--

Chuck found himself sitting on the Woodcomb couch as his sister, Mrs. Woodcomb, was eyeing him.

"Chuck what did you and Sarah do last night?"

Chuck awkwardly shifted and said, "I think if I told you I'd cross a few lines in this brother/sister relationship."

Ellie's faced twisted into a disgusted look. "Chuck. Ew. I mean did you finally end your music break?" Chuck face displayed no trace of knowing what she was referring to. "Every once in a while you take a break from your life to focus on music and don't even realize what that does to Sarah. That's not fair, Chuck. She's going to be your wife soon and you can't do that. Not only does it leave her with no one but it also puts the wrong idea in her head." Chuck looked horrible so Ellie lowered her level of assault. "Listen, Chuck, I don't know about Sarah's past but from what I've figured out on my own she's obviously been scarred just like we were when mom and dad left. She's not like everyone else. Her mind goes through a different process. And trust me, I know that you don't do it on purpose. And I've told her a thousand times she has nothing to worry about but _you_ need to be the one to do that." Ellie waited to see what he had to say.

Chuck now knew what he had done wrong. Why she had looked so disappointed and lost. He hadn't even considered what must have been going through her head.

"I was doing it for her, I swear," he told Ellie.

"I know, Chuck. She just wants to know that you'll be there for her all of the time. Not just most of the time. Did you at least play her the song? That's the only thing she has to look forward to, you know."

Chuck regrettably shook his head. "I wasn't going to play it to her until the wedding. That's why I wrote it."

"Does she know that?"

Chuck shook his head again. "No."

Ellie smiled sadly. "You know her better than I do. Is Sarah really the kind of person who will stay ignorant to what's going on just for the sake of perfect timing? If yes, by all means, do it your way. But if no, you might want to start rethinking your strategy."

--

Later that night, when Sarah walked out of the bathroom after her shower, she was drying her hair with a towel that was blocking her view of Chuck. The only reason she knew he was there was after five seconds she heard a guitar playing. It was slow and her heart became fast and everything just seemed okay now that he was there, sitting on the edge of the bed that they shared with his Les Paul guitar on his lap and his fingers on the strings. She put her arm down to her side, still holding the towel, and watched him as he made her forget about everything else in the world. At that moment, the only thing on her mind was him sitting there, and her standing there, and the song. The song that he wrote for her. The song he was playing for her. Right now.

"We're gonna build a life together  
You and I forever and ever and we'll  
Make babies on the beach  
Under the stardust and  
I'll hear your voice come through the door  
A thousand times, maybe more  
And I'll smile inside to know you're mine  
Completely

"Do you know how lovely you are  
In the starlight, in the starlight of my heart  
Do you know how lovely you are  
In the moonlight, in the moonlight of my heart

"We're gonna build a home together  
You and I forever and ever and we'll  
We'll make babies on the beach  
Under the stardust and  
I'll hear your voice come through the door|  
A thousand times, maybe more  
And I'll smile inside to know you're mine  
Completely mine

"And I wind up every day  
Thinking about the way you make me feel  
When your lips touch my lips  
And I could crawl inside a cave  
Or live somewhere strange  
As long as I'm with you  
I've got what I need

"We're gonna build a life together  
You and I forever and ever and we'll  
We'll make babies on the beach  
Under the stardust and  
I'll hear you voice come through the door  
A thousand times, maybe more  
And I'll smile inside to know you're mine  
You're mine  
Completely mine"

Sarah was still standing. Some point through the song she had leaned against the wall. She couldn't remember even blinking. Before she knew it, Chuck was standing in front of her apologizing. _"Apologizing for what?"_ She noticed she was still holding the damp towel. Her shirt was getting wet from the hair resting on it and she thinks she might have to change again. She feels lighter. She bets she looks like Chuck after he got the Intersect removed all that time ago. She still hasn't paid attention to what he's saying. _"He talks a lot."_ Sarah was feeling immense affection towards him and softly hugged him. He wasn't talking as much now. She was nervous her hair might be getting his shirt wet. She just stayed there hugging him as her mind caught up to the real world.

Everything feels so real now. Like all her life she has been waiting for him to sing this song to her. Her life is different. As far as she's concerned, she's already his wife. If by wife, it means he's her husband. And if by husband, it means he's the person she's been unknowingly looking for her whole life. After such a long and twisted and just really _messed_ _up_ ride, she has finally arrived. Arrived where? She isn't exactly sure. She's never been here before. But she knows nothing has felt more right. Everything that happens from now on is meant to be. Because she is finally here.

When she let go of him, her eyes went to the dark spot on his shoulder. "Sorry about getting your shirt wet."

"What?" Chuck didn't even look down to see what she was talking about. "Sarah, I mean everything I said. I'm sorry for doing this to you and I promise it wasn't intentional. I wasn't thinking."

"Do you really want kids?"

Chuck stopped himself to focus on her question. "With you, yeah."

"Good."

Chuck didn't know why she seemed so… cleansed. "Sarah, are you okay?"

"I'm crazy in love with you," she blurted out. "I have been for a _really _long time. Like, way before I told you." Chuck just watched her not knowing what to say. "But that doesn't matter now."

"It doesn't?"

Sighing quickly, she said, "No. Because I wouldn't change a thing. And in two days we're getting married! Fucking _married!_ And then I'll be Sarah Bartowski and you'll be Chuck Bartowski and I just can't wait."

Now Chuck was smiling. For once, she was the one with the infectious smile. She was the one lighting up the room by just being herself.

"You're pretty excited for this, huh?"

"Don't you get it?" She looked borderline ecstatic. "All of the shit that's happened? It doesn't matter! _None _of it matters! Because we're here. And this," she said waving her arms around, "this is why we put up with all that shit. Because no government is going to tell me you're not mine or tell you I'm not yours. You're right. I'm _completely_ yours. I'm with the man I love and that's the only thing that matters. Everything's so simple now. And all that stuff you were singing about? That's going to happen. Nothing's stopping that from happening. Besides maybe public indecency for having sex on the beach. And I don't even care about that!"

Chuck was laughing now. Sarah was literally giddy. And that was making him feel giddy. And now they were just two giddy idiots in love telling the world to go screw itself.

That whole Intersect thing? "_Fuck that. I'm with Sarah."_ Stanford? _"Who cares? I'm with Sarah."_ Jill Roberts? _"Who? I'm with Sarah." _And nothing else matters.

Chuck wrapped his arms around her and picked her up to spin her around. The second Sarah's feet hit the floor she was kissing him. Kissing him like it was the first time. Forget that one where she broke his heart. That might as well not exist. _This_ was their first kiss. This was the first kiss they had knowing nothing else mattered. That's the only real kind of kiss.

They _are_ going to build a life together. Forever and ever. And they _are _going to make babies on the beach because they want to. And they'll hear their voices come through the door _a million_ times for all they care. And at that moment, they don't know if they'll ever stop smiling. Because she is his completely. And he is hers completely.

And anyone who has a problem with that can go to hell.

---

_The End. _

_Well that's it for _Chuck vs. the Les Paul._ Thanks again to everyone reading. Hopefully you guys were introduced to some new music you like while reading some fluff in the process. For now I've got school to deal with but who knows? That one song could come by anytime and ignite an idea in my head. As some of you know, I've had my eye on a few more songs, but those will be added as oneshots it they ever end up being written. _

_Review and I'll be happy! I'll even throw in a song suggestion special for you. Just mention what your preferred genre is and I'm sure I'll have something for you. It's kind of my thing. (I apologize in advance to the rare bluegrass fan. I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do for you.)_

_3/1/10. Stay strong. _


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